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Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey

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King Khan Returns
Date16 April 2011
VenueManchester Arena, Manchester, UK
Title(s) on the lineWBA Light Welterweight Title
Tale of the tape
Boxer United Kingdom Amir Khan United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland Paul McCloskey
Nickname "King" "Dudey"
Hometown Bolton, Greater Manchester Derry, Northern Ireland
Pre-fight record 24–1 (17 KO) 22–0 (12 KO)
Age 24 years, 4 months 31 years, 8 months
Height 5 ft 8+12 in (174 cm) 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 139 lb (63 kg) 139 lb (63 kg)
Style Orthodox Southpaw
Recognition WBA
Light Welterweight Champion
The Ring
No. 2 Ranked Light Welterweight[1]
WBA
No. 4 Ranked Light Welterweight
The Ring
No. 10 Ranked Light Welterweight
Result
Khan defeats McCloskey by Technical Decision

Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey was a professional boxing match contested on 16 April 2011, for the WBA Light Welterweight championship.[2]

It was aired on HBO's World Championship Boxing,[3] as part of an HBO-televised split-site double-header, which also included WBC Welterweight Championship fight, Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz.[4]

Background

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Khan survived a brutal late onslaught from Marcos Maidana to retain his WBA light-welterweight title in December 2010. It was looking like an easy night's work in round one. Khan dropped Maidana with a vicious left to the body that had the Argentinian writhing in agony. During round 10, was where that Maidana had much of his success, threading huge uppercuts through his tight guard and ripping shots to his ribs on both flanks in a vain effort to bring his gloves down. He won the bout unanimous decision. Khan had two 10–8 rounds, the first and the fifth, when the referee Joe Cortez docked Maidana a point for elbowing on the break.[5]

McCloskey produced a classy European light-welterweight title defence as he stopped Scotland's Barry Morrison in seven rounds. The Dungiven man picked off Morrison in the opening rounds in Letterkenny and then put the ex-British champion on the canvas with a big right in the fifth. Morrison tried to get McCloskey involved in a brawl but the end came after another knockdown in the seventh. It was McCloskey's second defence of his title and his 22nd straight win. Morrison had no answer to McCloskey's fast hands and the Derry man showed punching power as well with his right hook in the fifth which caught the Scot flush on the temple.[6]

The fight

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The fight started with Khan as the main aggressor with little changing for five rounds. McCloskey evaded a lot of Khan's punches with superb upper body movement but he was not throwing enough punches to win rounds. In the decisive sixth Khan staggered McCloskey and moments later the pair went toe-to-toe, clashing heads as Khan came in for a right hand, McCloskey and Khan both stopped and the referee intervened. The fight was then stopped because of a cut to McCloskey's left eye.[7]

Khan had some trouble with an awkward and resilient southpaw, who was difficult to hit cleanly, however, he ended up winning all six rounds on all three cards.[8]

Aftermath

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There is some controversy over the stoppage, with The Independent's Steve Bunce questioning the doctor's reason for entering the ring

Undercard

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Confirmed bouts:[9]

Televised

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Preliminary card

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  • Super Bantamweight bout:United Kingdom Rendall Munroe vs. Belarus Andrei Isaeu
    • Munroe defeats Isaeu by unanimous decision. (116–112, 115–114, 117–112)
  • Lightweight bout:United Kingdom Graeme Higginson vs. Republic of Ireland Andy Murray
    • Murray defeated Higginson by points.
  • Heavyweight bout:United Kingdom Richard Towers vs. BelarusRaman Sukhaterin
    • Towers defeats Sukhaterin by RTD. The fight was stopped at the end of round four.
  • Super Bantamweight bout:United Kingdom Kid Galahad vs. United KingdomDai Davies
    • Galahad defeated Davies by points.
  • Bantamweight bout:United Kingdom Tasif Khan vs. LatviaPavels Senkovs
    • Khan defeated Senkovs by points.

International broadcasting

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Country Broadcaster
Latin America Space[10]
 Canada HBO Canada/TSN
 Philippines TV5/IBC
 United Kingdom Primetime
 United States HBO

References

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  1. ^ "Jr. Welterweight ratings as of March 6, 2011". ringtv.craveonline.com. The Ring. 6 March 2011. Archived from the original on 11 March 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  3. ^ Rafael, Dan (5 February 2011). "Amir Khan to face Paul McCloskey". ESPN. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  4. ^ Satterfield, Lem (19 January 2011). "Andre Berto-Victor Ortiz 'Promising' for Amir Khan April 16 Card". AolNews. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Kevin (12 December 2011). "Amir Khan beats Marcos Maidana to retain WBA light-welterweight title". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Classy Paul McCloskey beat Barry Morrison in Euro bout". BBC. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  7. ^ "Amir Khan keeps WBA title". ESPN. 16 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  8. ^ Sukachev, Alexey (16 April 2011). "Amir Khan Gets Technical Nod Over Paul Mccloskey Six". BoxingScene. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  9. ^ "BoxRec - event".
  10. ^ "Berto-Ortiz/Khan-McCloskey en Space". NotiFight. 12 April 2011.
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Preceded by Amir Khan's bouts
16 April 2011
Succeeded by
Preceded by Paul McCloskey's bouts
16 April 2011
Succeeded by