Amir Khan v Paul McCloskey - Manchester, April 16

celtictiger32 wrote: »

dont know why so many are dismissing mc closkey against khan, mc closkey is one the best at that weight and still learning while khan is decent enough but hes a typical hyped up british sports person.

One of the best? Better than Khan? I don't think he is close to Khan's level, although, he has his chance now to prove me wrong.

Bandido wrote: »

I really hope Paul McCloskey wins this fight but I think Khan is too quick and his volume of punches will be too much for McCloskey.

I will still be supporting Paul and cheering for him at the fight, but I would hope that rational thought doesn't portray as me dissing him or anything.

Best of luck to Paul and I hope he wins it.

Absolutely not. It's akin to someone believing that Man Utd are superior to say Motherwell. I would love to see Paul pull this off. I cannot see it happening unless he lands a haymaker.

BTW, the Motherwell comparison is mine, not everyone's.

celtictiger32 wrote: »

khan has only come into his under the tutilidge of freddie roach, i think roach is one of the best if not the best trainers around but i think even he has taken khan as far as he can go. mc closkey IS one of the best his natural ability is second to none at that weight he still has a lot to learn but everyone will know paul mc closkey after april 16th

Well, before I make bold predictions I like fighters to prove themselves. Paul has yet to do this on the WORLD scene. He is euro champ; this is now the next step. I ain't gonna' jump the gun here. Prove it, and then I will accept it.

BTW, Khan still has to show more. Yes, he is WBA champ and has beaten one of the supposed best, Maidana, but to me, Maidana is not great.

Paul beats Khan, then I will applaud him and I will accept that as Paul being a top dog on the world scene. UNTIL then, I will hold off.

All one needs to do is look at who Paul has beaten. Nothing great. Same for Khan. But, in my opinion, Khan
is a a great great talent. Fantastic boxer! That's from what I see when he performs. I don't see that
when Paul performs. I see a good boxer.

walshb wrote: »

Well, before I make bold predictions I like fighters to prove themselves. Paul has yet to do this on the WORLD scene. He is euro champ; this is now the next step. I ain't gonna' jump the gun here. Prove it, and then I will accept it.

BTW, Khan still has to show more. Yes, he is WBA champ and has beaten one of the supposed best, Maidana, but to me, Maidana is not great.

Paul beats Khan, then I will applaud him and I will accept that as Paul being a top dog on the world scene. UNTIL then, I will hold off.

All one needs to do is look at who Paul has beaten. Nothing great. Same for Khan. But, in my opinion, Khan
is a a great great talent. Fantastic boxer! That's from what I see when he performs. I don't see that
when Paul performs. I see a good boxer.

i dont agree with khan being a 'great great talent' as eamon dunphy would say hes good but not great, i do however agree with you about maidana i never even rated him as a contender but then the w.b.a have a curious rating system. even though i hate to admit it they even had our own bernard dunne as world champ dont get me wrong i like bernard and loved watching him win it but he had a glass chin as was proven. any fight ive seen mc closkey take punches he could deal with them but i think one of his main attributes is his ability to dodge and avoid punches (mayweather style) but my one fear about mc closkey is his positioning and guard if you watch his style he always keeps his hands too low a nightmare for any trainer, fan etc watching his fights. even still i think he will do the business against the over rated hyped up khan.

mrgardener wrote: »

God, I hope you're right. I do rate Maidana, however, and thought Khan boxed brilliantly against him. One of the problems that McCloskey will face is the hype and size of the fight. Khan is well used to this, Paul isn't. We've all seen fighters buckle under the pressure of a big fight, I just hope that McCloskey genuinely believes that he can win this fight and is not there just to put on a good show.

ye that could be a concern, i dont how mc closkey will react in the big fight scenario but he strikes me as the kind of guy that nothing fazes him hopefully this is the case, i do think he believes in himself and that he can beat the best and be the best. i think there was similar dismissals of a certain joe calzaghe at one stage in his career too.

walshb wrote: »

The problem for Paul is volume. Let us for arguments sake assume that Paul cannot KO Khan. How can he possibly win? He ain't doing a sweet pea or PBF here. He just does not have the volume or speed to earn a points win, nor the defence to avoid a lot of Khan's punches.

Ok, so that leaves Paul's only hope being a KO shot, or series of heavy shots for a TKO.

It will be interesting to see how the charity comp plays out.

i disagree with the defense aspect im always weary of his low hands as i said before but other than that i think his defense is good.

i actually think hes quick enough too, ok khan might be that bit quicker but for the amount of punches he lands from where his hands are hes got to have a bit of speed there dont you think. i think your point about the t.k.o could be where he'll take this fight when he smells an opening more times than not he'll bombard his opponent, with the exception of some of his last few fights but i think that was because of instructions from the corner

McCloskey is 7/1 with Ladbrokes 20/1 to win it on points. Is this bout that much of a mismatch? Personally I don't think Khan is that far ahead of McCloskey who seems to be in good trim having lost that pudginess he always had about him.

klunkster wrote: »

McCloskey is 7/1 with Ladbrokes 20/1 to win it on points. Is this bout that much of a mismatch? Personally I don't think Khan is that far ahead of McCloskey who seems to be in good trim having lost that pudginess he always had about him.

i dont think khan is ahead of him at all, as ive said before hes the typical british spots star that gets hyped up by the british media ask prescott;)

Boooourns wrote: »

Wow i can't believe how underated people still have Khan, the lad is brilliant imo and well on his way to becoming a superstar.

dont think hes goin much further than where he is. i would even go as far as to say he wouldnt have gotten that far had he not been with freddie roach

gene_tunney wrote: »

Khan is on a different level to McCloskey but I don't think he's anything special. He'll never be top 5 pound for pound

i just hope april 16th will change a lot of your minds

BiffoGooner wrote: »

No question he's good, but I wouldn't go as far as 'brilliant'. And when you say Superstar, you're talking Manny and Floyd territory. I really don't think he'll ever reach that level. His speed should see him through against Timothy Bradley if they fight after Mcloskey, but there's plenty of challenges out there for him. He was talking about fighting Juan Manuel Marquez at one point, and Floyd was mentioned too. Either would take him to school. Definitely getting a little ahead of himself there. He needs to be looking at the likes of Victor Ortiz, Kell Brook, Lamont Peterson, Juan Urango and Zab Judah for now. They're all more akin to his level, and most of them provide a challenge he wouldn't be assured of overcoming. A lot of people think he's well on the way to becoming one of the top names in the sport, but I just don't see it.

Don't forget he's only 24! He has fantastic speed with pretty decent power, he needs to sort his feet out a little more but he's getting better all the time.
Roach wanted to put him in with Marquez, that would have been a great fight but that's the level Roach sees him at although Khans size could have been a big advantage there. Roach only puts his boxers with other boxers who they can beat, Marquez would no way school Khan. Mayweather on the other hand would make them massive amount of money and i can see Khan trouble him although Floyd is an amazing boxer.
Of the boxers you mention why would Khan be looking at Brook? He's an overhyped wellmatched fighter who's done absolutley nothing but bump up his undefeated record. Urango is not going to get near a shot unless he starts putting a winning run again after he was destroyed by Alexander.
Khan will be the outright Light welter champ and probably defend it a few times before he moves up and if he keeps improving like he has he'll be a major player at Welterweight.

By the way i'm a McCloskey fan and i think his style could trouble Khan but there at different levels and he just won't be able to handle Khans speed.

Freddie Roach is a great trainer, so was Dundee, Futch and others; bit it's the fighters that are the men who are all alone in the ring. This lame excuse
that Khan wouldn't be very good without Roach is off the mark. One can NOT
know his. Khan has shown as an amateur that he has the pedigree and the fundamentals.
Yes, all fighters need trainers to improve them, but it's still the fighters that must do the actual business.

As for JMM schooling Khan. Well, if that happens very soon then Khan can forget the pro scene. JMM is at best a LW, also, he is an old fighter who is fighting past his best days; so, Khan cannot beat him, then Khan is just a run of the mill decent fighter. Me thinks that Khans' size and speed are all wrong for JMM. Styles make fights, and Khan's is bad for the smaller and older and slower Marquez.

As to where Manny would be without Roach? Possibly with another trainer and still doing the business.
Like I said, nobody can know how a fighter would do without his trainer.

One thing that we can know, is that no mater what trainer a fighter has, IF the fighter
does not commit, concentrate and put in the work, he will be exposed. Tyson showed this after
Rooney went. Now, Rooney was so important, but Mike's commitment and attention to actual
training were also so important. It is well documented that Mike just was not putting in the
effort in the gym post Rooney. So, who can say even if Rooney was kept on, that Mike
would have put in the required effort? I do believe that some trainers are juts good for some fighters.
Rooney is the example

Boooourns wrote: »

Don't forget he's only 24! He has fantastic speed with pretty decent power, he needs to sort his feet out a little more but he's getting better all the time.
Roach wanted to put him in with Marquez, that would have been a great fight but that's the level Roach sees him at although Khans size could have been a big advantage there. Roach only puts his boxers with other boxers who they can beat, Marquez would no way school Khan. Mayweather on the other hand would make them massive amount of money and i can see Khan trouble him although Floyd is an amazing boxer.
Of the boxers you mention why would Khan be looking at Brook? He's an overhyped wellmatched fighter who's done absolutley nothing but bump up his undefeated record. Urango is not going to get near a shot unless he starts putting a winning run again after he was destroyed by Alexander.
Khan will be the outright Light welter champ and probably defend it a few times before he moves up and if he keeps improving like he has he'll be a major player at Welterweight.

By the way i'm a McCloskey fan and i think his style could trouble Khan but there at different levels and he just won't be able to handle Khans speed.

are you for real khan would trouble mayweather!! khan wouldnt get near mayweather. hatton was 10 times the fighter khan is and he couldnt do it so why on earth would anybody think khan could trouble him. im starting to think half of these posts are coming from khans family