MANCHESTER – Amir Khan insists he is fully focused on his world title defence against Paul McCloskey on Saturday despite a turbulent build-up dogged by a wrangle over television money.
The World Boxing Association (WBA) light-welterweight champion could end up walking away with less money from a fourth defence than his challenger after a change in UK broadcasters that will show the fight.
The fight at the MEN Arena in Manchester will now be screened by the pay-per-view channel Primetime after the more established Sky Box Office dropped the event last week.
It has been reported the change in broadcasters will cost Khan over 1 million pounds, while Northern Ireland boxer McCloskey’s fee has not been reduced by the TV row.
Khan, 24, maintains he is unconcerned by the huge reduction in the size of his purse and is confident he will come through McCloskey to set up a world title unification fight against American Timothy Bradley, who holds the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) titles.
There have already been discussions for Khan to face Bradley in America on July 23, but the 2004 Olympic silver medalist insists he is not overlooking the threat posed by unbeaten European champion McCloskey.
“You always have ups and downs before a fight but I’m 100 per cent focused on beating McCloskey,” Khan told AFP.
“I’ve left it to my team to sort out the TV and after the fight I’ll sit down with them and see what the truth behind it was.
“I’m so focused on my job, and my job is to fight and win. McCloskey’s going to come to win but I’m the best guy he has fought. He has never fought anyone who is as strong or quick as me.
“I’ve not signed anything but I think Bradley and his team have had some contact with my promoter Golden Boy.
“But I want to get this fight out the way first before I start thinking about unifying the title. It would be stupid of me to sign for a fight before my next one.
“I want to clean up at light-welterweight. That’s why McCloskey is such a huge fight for me because if I make any mistake these big unification fights like Bradley will not happen.”
McCloskey, 31, is confident he can ruin Khan’s plans to face Bradley and aims to exploit the Bolton boxer’s punch resistance in front of 16,000 fans.
Khan was rocking in the tenth round of his last fight against Argentina’s Marcos Maidana in December and was halted in the first round by Colombian Breidis Prescott – his only professional defeat – in 2008.
“He has improved in terms of his defence since working with (trainer) Freddie Roach, but he will go down if I land the right shot at the right time,” McCloskey told AFP.
“He’s vulnerable, as Marcos Maidana showed in his last fight. He could have been stopped and I have no doubt I can beat him.
“All the stuff about TV is a bonus for me. If he is distracted by it, it will be a massive advantage for me.”
