WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan’s April 16th clash with European champion Paul McCloskey has been removed from pay per view and will instead be aired on Sky Sports, a widely available cable channel in Britain, the largest market for Khan’s fights.
As first reported by Boxrec, the development is largely down to the fact that several high profile undercard fights have been canceled due to injury and fighters pulling out in the last few days.
Included amongst those in the now likely canceled category is Manchester heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury’s much awaited first big step up in competition which was set to be against former world champion Hasim Rahman.
Shortly after the fight was announced Boxingscene reported that Rahman’s trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad apparently pulled Rahman out, unhappy about the fact that his fighter was taking the fight on such short notice.
<<<--Photos: Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton promote April 16th event
Which begs the question of either why it was announced if not yet confirmed or why Rahman took a fight without first gaining his trainer’s approval.
As well as the fact that the undercard has yet to be fully confirmed, it’s also possible that the early sales predictions were lower than Sky Sports were willing to accept, and that the event was in danger of not making a profit had it stayed on pay per view.
As big of a star as Khan is in Britain, McCloskey isn’t that well known outside of Ireland, and the odds being so high against him likely largely discouraged many fans from being too interested in the fight. Advertisement
Throw in several fights being scrapped or changed at the last minute and apathy for the event from Sky Sports is understandable.
The news will come as bad news for Khan and McCloskey, who will both likely make less overall than they would have done with a pay per view event.
Khan and Ricky Hatton, whose Hatton promotions are providing several of the fighters for the event, have also been tirelessly promoting the event over the last week, with numerous television appearances and interviews, and will no doubt be frantically scrambling to secure a high profile undercard bout.
If they can achieve that, then there is still a chance that the event could once again gain pay per view status. Tyson Fury and team are still looking for an opponent, although with less than a week before the fight whether they will be able to secure anyone high profile enough to satisfy Sky Sports is far from a certainty.
Fury isn’t the first fighter to have had difficulties in the co-feature slot though. No less than three other fights have been put together only to have later been canceled since the event was put together.
The stance from Sky is a refreshing one however, in an age when stateside seemingly any fight can be made into a pay per view without recourse from any of the networks.
Barry North, Manchester: “The M.E.N is going to be packed out so they should make money on the event, glad someone is setting a president against anything being allowed on pay per view though”
Shaun Murphy, Pitt: “Don’t see why they didn’t do the same as HBO are doing and have Berto vs. Ortiz free the next day if you bought the Khan fight”
