On 16 April within the cavernous confines of Manchester?s MEN Arena, Amir Khan will face Paul McCloskey in a defense of his WBA light-welterweight belt. It?s the first fight for Khan on home soil since his effortless dismissal of Dimitry Salita ? a chance for his fans to welcome him home. But it?s also a chance to for Khan to pick up a pay check in the easiest of ways. It will be as effortless as his fight against a cowering, confused Salita, who was knocked out in the first round.
McCloskey the reigning European light-welterweight champion has achieved little to earn what will be his most lucrative fight. In fact his paper-thin resume is precisely the reason why team Khan picked it him. An opponent who will not ask too much at the bargaining table and more importantly provides little threat to still glass chinned Khan.
For those who make the argument that Khan removed all question marks that hung off his chin with a close and precarious tussle with Marcos Maidana, Boxing Dispatch has one point to make. There is no doubt that Amir Khan has become a smarter fighter. His survival in one of the rounds of the year against a Maidana barrage was a testament to ring craft rather than ability to take a punch. Anyone who disagrees needs to answer one question.
Why was Breidis Prescott not picked as Amir Khan?s next opponent. Prescott, so desperate for the fight has changed careers? His full-time job in recent months has been to call out Khan at any opportunity.
A fight with such a story line would have been a far easier sell than the unheralded McCloskey. The latter will get blown away by Khan on April 16, while the former can still claim to be the only man to have blown Khan away.
And as for the people in attendance? A waste of everyone?s time and money.
