Khan-McCloskey: Paul Questions Amir's Power, Chin

By Mark Vester

European light welterweight champion Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12KOs), ranked at five by the WBA, is not impressed with the champion, Amir Khan (24-1, 17KOs). He challenges Khan for the title on April 16 at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England.

He watched Khan's December win over Marcos Maidana and believes his British rival is not a big puncher, and the chin factor is still there. McCloskey felt the referee could have stopped the fight in the tenth. He credits Khan's conditioning as the reason for his survival. Khan's conditioning will be on display in the fight, as strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza was fired two weeks ago.

“Khan is seen as a superstar but he’s certainly beatable. Yes, he’s improved dramatically under Freddie Roach but in his last fight Maidana had him rocked,” said McCloskey to the Belfast Telegraph. “The referee could have stepped in and stopped the fight when Maidana caught Khan in the 10th round but it was Khan’s conditioning which stood by him — he ran like a mad man trying to stay out of the way.

“Maidana took serious punches from Khan but, except for the one body punch at the start when he went down, he wasn’t rocked. Khan’s not a big puncher.”