By Terence Dooley
Could Amir Khan's MEN homecoming against Paul McCloskey be moving from Sky Sports to another UK broadcaster? Sources have claimed that Amir’s team are negotiating with Primetime, a subscription based UK broadcaster that has televised Carl Froch's recent fights and has a track record of delivering PPV boxing events.
Khan's WBA light-welterweight defence against 'Dudey' is not on Sky TV's list of upcoming fights, nor is it part of their listings for next weekend. Indeed, Sky Sports 3's schedule for next Saturday night has a TBA notice between the times of 9-11, which would seem the most likely slot for the telecast.
The Khan-McCloskey showcase has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week after Sky confirmed that they would not run the bill as a PPV in the wake of a string of fights falling through.
However, the event was shaping up well until Anthony Crolla’s maiden British lightweight title defence against Gavin Rees was pulled due to the recurrence of Rees’s nose injury. Matthew Macklin then withdrew from his fight with Khoren Gevor. A contest between Tyson Fury and former WBC heavyweight titleholder Hasim Rahman was mooted but has failed to materialise.
Certainly, the backdrop to the clash has been interesting and the main event itself has been overlooked as a consequence. Whatever the channel, the fight between Khan and McCloskey will bring out Paul’s passionate Irish fans; the 31-year-old southpaw is quite rightly a huge underdog but will have been buoyed by recent developments going into the biggest fight of his life.
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