Team McCloskey statement on Khan

This is a response to Amir Khan teams statement regarding the failed deal. There have been a lot of stories since this deal broke down which have not been accurate coming from the Khan camp. Out of respect for Pauls fans and the general boxing public I feel I must state the facts publicly. I Francie McNicholl Paul McCloskey’s manager would like to set the record straight and let the public decide the truth from fiction. It was Paul’s decision alone to not accept the offer. After initial contact had been made with the Khan team we all agreed the contest could happen subject to conditions being agreed. The Khan team sent an e mail to Matchroom with an offer of a cash amount that Paul would get paid for the fight. It also said they would require options on Paul’s next three fights should he win the contest. The cash amount offered was way below what one would expect for an unbeaten European champion in a world title fight. Barry Hearn contacted Khans team asking for two and a half times this offer, which was rejected. Khans team were then sent an email stating the amount that Paul received for his last European fight. Contrary to Amir Khans teams claims their offer was only TWICE the figure Paul has made before, not 3,4,5,or 6. As Khans team would not negotiate on this low figure. I suggested we look at other ways that could improve the deal on Paul’s part to make it worthy of a world title fight, namely commission on: 1: Ticket sales 2: PPV sales I suggested that we would get a commission on the tickets that we sold on an incentive basis. The more we sold the higher percentage we would make, up to a figure of 25 percent. Khans team would only agree to 20 PERCENT COMMISSION ON SALES OVER AND ABOVE 100k. Pay per view We do accept that Amir is the pay per view attraction, with that in mind we suggested that we acquire the viewing figures of Amir Khan Vs Maidana fight. We then proposed that if those figures increased for this fight we would look for one of three options: 1: 50/50 split on Irish sales over and above the last figures. 2: 20 percent on overall sales over and above the last figures. We were prepared to risk that these deals could mean nothing to us if PPV or ticket sales did not increase. If they did both parties would benefit. 3: 80 / 20 split on nett revenue generated from the contest. This option was suggested because Khans team said they were taking all the risks if this fight did not sell. Khans team offered 25 PERCENT ON PPV SALES OVER AND ABOVE 200000. The Khan Maidana fight did not get anywhere near this number, so this offer was potentially worthless. The next requirements of Khans team were their three options on Paul if he won the fight. 1: Khan gets a rematch. Paul would be paid a cash amount. 2: Paul’s next fight would be promoted by Khan and they take a percentage. 3: Paul’s next fight again would be promoted by Khan and they take a percentage. On option one we felt Paul as world champion should receive a 50/50 percentage split of the rematch. The cash amount offered was only equal to what we asked for in the first fight. We were willing to accept. options two and three. These are the facts in black and white taken from our correspondence with team Khan Amir has said that we kept moving the goal posts . On the contrary we tried to move around the Blockage caused by their low offer, which by all accounts was even less than Peterson’s offer. Amir is a great fighter , therefore above all people he knows how tough this sport can be ,he also knows the dedication commitment and sacrifices boxers have to make .He should show respect to his fellow professionals and offer them fair purses. Shah has said they gave in to so many of our demands obviously had they agreed to any of our requests we would not be in this position. We were never going to sell Paul short he is no walkover in the ring and we will make sure he is not outside it either Paul really wanted this fight and we feel that we did everything in our power to make it happen. Our requests were very reasonable in the circumstances. We regret that the Khan team could not agree. The general boxing public are the ones who are missing out on a great fight for this part of the world. ONE THAT WE KNOW PAUL WOULD HAVE WON AND RETAIN HIS UNBEATEN RECORD. We wish the Khan team all the best in the future. We would like to thank all the fans for their support. 2011 is going to be a big year for Paul McCloskey and his fans. He and his team believe he will be world champion by the end of this year. Francie Mc Nicholl Mc Closkey team http://www.paulmccloskey.com/