By Jake Donovan

The wait is finally over, even though the race ended almost exactly where it began.

Amir Khan will return to the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England on April 16. This much we always knew, or at least in the wake of his Fight of the Year-level 12-round war with Marcos Maidana last December.

Over the course of the past several weeks were offered a variety of candidates to stand in the opposite corner for a showcase bout that will air live on Sky Sports PPV and via same-day tape delay on HBO.

A decision was finally made earlier this week, confirming that undefeated Irish junior welterweight Paul McCloskey would land what has become the most coveted assignment in the division these days.

The selection of McCloskey offered a bit of an anti-climactic feel to the sweepstakes, if not unnecessary drama. McCloskey was the frontrunner all along, based on location, glossy record and perceived risk level being considerably lower than the rest of the field.

Negotiations reached a point where it appeared as if the Derry-born boxer was going to move in a different direction. The payout was a sticking point for several candidates vying for the coveted assignment, none of them very appreciative of the modest six-figure payday for a fight that is putting millions more in Khan’s pocket.

The price eventually went up, high enough to finally entice McCloskey’s handlers to close the deal and put an end to weeks of drama and endless rumors.

What now remains is the direction in which the rest of the field heads.

Included among those who sought to face the once-beaten Brit were: John Murray, Lamont Peterson, Breidis Prescott, Junior Witter and Maidana himself, who was scoping U.K.-bound flights the moment it once appeared that McCloskey was out of the running. 

Some have already begun to move on, but still keeping an eye on Khan in hopes of meeting him somewhere down the road. The rest will have to fight their way into contention if they want to garner serious consideration – and also be able to justify their asking price.

If there was a candidate on the list who was more ideal than McCloskey, it was Murray. On paper, Khan couldn’t ask for a more ideal opponent - undefeated, born and raised in Manchester (where the April 16 fight will take place), was a promotional free agent at the time and was also moving up from lightweight.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Murray eventually faded out of the running and has since signed with Frank Warren. The irony in such a union is that his hesitance in making such a move cost Murray a shot at this very same fight nearly 18 months ago, when Khan was still fighting under the Sports Network banner before leaving the British promoter in 2010.

Rather than move up to 140 just for the type of payday that comes with facing Khan, the Mancunian is sticking in his natural weight class and eyeing a future shot at any of the best lightweights in the world. Included among that bunch is Juan Manuel Marquez, who is suddenly without a fight after plans fell apart for a showdown with countryman Erik Morales.

Had the Marquez-Morales bout fallen apart sooner, perhaps either of the Mexican legends could’ve advanced to the top of the list for a date with Khan. Such a fight simply would’ve sold itself, with the added storyline of seeing if either could fare better than their mutual rival Marco Antonio Barrera, who suffered a bone-deep gash in the opening round en route to losing a technical decision in their March ’09 encounter.

But with the B-Side of this promotion now filled, both Marquez and Morales are in the market for new opponents as well.

Surprisingly, Morales isn’t seeking a soft touch. In fact, quite the opposite as he has expressed an interest in facing none other than Maidana, argued by many as the most dangerous opponent in the division. 

Such a fight has its upside – a vacant title would be at stake, which would make Morales the first-ever Mexican to claim belts in four separate weight classes if he were to win. It would also put him in line as Khan’s mandatory challenger.

Short-term risk, long-term reward.

The failure to employ such vision is what ultimately knocked Peterson out of the running.

The D.C. product is coming off of a disputed draw with Victor Ortiz last December and anxious to cash in on that momentum. As recent as last week, he emerged as the potential frontrunner after negotiations between Khan and McCloskey were declared to be dead.

However, the amount of cash he thought such an accomplishment would return turned out to be less than Khan was willing to pay, despite the initial offer eventually doubling over the course of negotiations.

There’s something to be said of Team Peterson’s point of contention that the amount they were being offered paled in comparison to what was available in the pot. There was also the issue of the terms for a rematch in the event that Khan lost, as reported last weekend by Boxingscene.com News Editor Lem Satterfield.

In the end, though, they are now left with just their pride, which pays a hell of a lot less than the $300,000 they were offered to fly across the pond. A rematch with Ortiz isn’t even a direction to which they can turn, as the Californian is in negotiations for a welterweight showdown with Andre Berto on the very same evening.

Placed in a similar position is Prescott, the one fighter who seemed to enjoy the greatest backing by the boxing media. The unheralded Colombian is the only fighter to hang a loss on Khan, knocking out the Brit in less than a minute in their September 2008 encounter, in which both fighters were undefeated at the time.

Khan, of course, has come all the way back from that night, winning six straight since that night and currently rates as the only fighter who can dispute Tim Bradley’s claim for the best junior welterweight on the planet.

Prescott, on the other hand, remains a one-hit wonder, failing to cash in on the momentum from that evening. He is 3-2 since then, including an ESPN2-televised loss to future titlist Miguel Vazquez and a lopsided decision loss to Kevin Mitchell, who went on to get blasted out in three rounds by Michael Katsidis.

Still, the storyline alone was enough to convince HBO to deem him an acceptable opponent for the April 16 date.

Unfortunately for Prescott, there wasn’t much consideration on the part of Khan, who would like to avenge the loss, but prefer that his lone conqueror do a little more besides run his mouth in order to build momentum towards such a fight.

A fighter long associated with making more noise in the media than in the ring is Witter. The brash Brit once held alphabet hardware at 140 lb., but that and his seven-year, 21-fight win streak still wasn’t enough to secure a long-desired showdown – and monster-sized payday - with in-country rival Ricky Hatton.  

He returns to the ring later this month after sitting out since August 2009, when he was forced to quit on his stool after eight one-sided rounds at the hands of Devon Alexander. The loss was the second in his past three fights, having also fallen short against visiting Tim Bradley nearly three years ago.

Witter insisted that – should he get past Victor Puiu on February 19 in a welterweight bout – he would be able to drop back down to 140 for a Khan showdown less than two months later.

The request was viewed with skepticism by Sky Box Office, who questioned his ability to get down in weight that quickly, though the greater industry-wide concern is what he still brings to the table a month shy of his 37th birthday and having not won a meaningful fight in more than three years.

For those who truly covet a shot at Khan beyond the April 16 date, there is a glimmer of hope. HBO is making a strong push for the 2004 Olympic Silver medalist and current titlist to face Bradley this summer in a bout that would undoubtedly determine 140 lb. supremacy.

Win, lose or draw, such a fight would mean that Khan wouldn’t return to the ring any sooner than late in the 4th quarter of 2011.

That gives all rejected applicants this time around plenty of time to further enhance their credentials for the next sweepstakes.

The question between now and then is, who will truly aim to earn such a fight, and who will play it safe in hopes of a handout.

None of this is to suggest that Paul McCloskey necessarily earned the April 16 date, so much as he was determined to best fit the uniform for the desired role of this fight.

That doesn’t mean that the next fighter to land such an assignment will be so lucky, or that they should do any less than what led them to fall short this time around.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .