• Steve Bunce

McCloskey let down by disgraceful call

Paul McCloskey's cut prompted a sixth-round stoppage of his fight with Amir Khan on Saturday © PA Photos

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In the first edition of a weekly boxing column, Pardon The Interruption star Steve Bunce casts his eye over the controversial bout between Amir Khan and Paul McCloskey...

The sixth-round stoppage in the Khan-McCloskey fight on Saturday was a disgrace. Yes, McCloskey's cut needed a few stitches, but it wasn't serious enough to finish a six-round undercard fight, let alone one for the WBA light-welterweight title. Ricky Hatton and hundreds of other fighters have come through championship bouts with cuts that were far worse.

There was enough time left in the round for Eamonn Magee, McCloskey's cutsman, to work on the wound, but he wasn't given the chance. After the fight, when all hell was breaking loose in the ring, Magee managed to stop the cut bleeding in less than five seconds - and this was with McCloskey shouting and screaming about the decision, and Barry Hearn, his promoter, facing off with members of Khan's gang.

In the middle of this adrenaline-fuelled craziness, the bleeding ended! If you cut yourself shaving and go and lay down for ten minutes, it will still bleed. Imagine nicking yourself with a razor and then going to do some press-ups! But McCloskey's cut began to close up, which shows the fight should have been allowed to continue.

I'm not saying McCloskey would have won it, as he'd lost every round and, if he'd been allowed to carry on, Magee couldn't have closed it completely. So it would have opened up again, which would have been bad news for McCloskey, especially after his legs had done a little dance when Khan caught him early in the sixth.

My gut feeling is that it would have been over by the tenth anyway - but that doesn't take anything away from the fact it was a bad, bad stoppage. It wasn't crooked, it's just two people - the referee and the doctor - getting it badly wrong.

He made Khan look desperate

Hearn is demanding that McCloskey gets a rematch, and on paper I'd probably say he deserves one - but there's not much chance of that happening, because Khan has some fantastic opportunities ahead of him. And even if McCloskey does merit a rematch, whether it happens will have nothing to do with what he deserves - and everything to do with what Hearn can offer, and if it makes cash common sense to Khan's team and Oscar de la Hoya, the head of Golden Boy Promotions.

Although Khan won every round, McCloskey made him miss with a lot of shots © PA Photos

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It's tough, because McCloskey showed enough in the fight to prove he can live with Khan, and there was nothing wrong with his tactics. Sure, he lost the first six rounds, but he didn't get bashed up - it was just a case of Khan landing more than he did. McCloskey was never hurt, never wobbling, never in any danger of being stopped. When you watch it again, he was making Khan look wild, reckless and ugly on occasion.

And for that reason, I think Khan needs to sit down with Freddie Roach, his trainer, and go back over the tactics, because I'm not sure what they were - other than to get fit, get in the ring, chase him and hope he folds.

There was never any guarantee McCloskey would crumble - and, because he proved his toughness, he made Khan look desperate at times. Why wasn't Freddie Roach, his trainer, having him do various things? He's meant to be one of the best coaches in the business. With a southpaw, what you do is get your left foot outside their lead foot in order to confuse them - you move away from their best punches and you try and break down their awkwardness. All Khan did was to try and chip away at his opponent's spirit by charging him.

Cut out the Pacquiao talk

So with a rematch looking unlikely, attention will turn to what Khan should do now. I think he should fight Timothy Bradley next, as he's a credible opponent with the WBC and WBO light-welterweight titles - but he can't let himself be held over a barrel on this one. He can't just give this guy a pension fund, so I'd tell him to walk away if Bradley's camp starts demanding massive splits in the money in his favour.

He has other options - he could have a rematch with Marcos Maidana or Erik Morales, who pushed Maidana hard earlier this month. After that, maybe a grudge clash with Victor Ortiz, who won the WBC welterweight title at the weekend by beating Andre Berto.

As for Manny Pacquiao, forget about it. Just leave him out of it for a while. To be honest, I can't see why people are even talking about him - he's got a big fight with Shane Mosley coming up in May, and the only way the fight works is if Roach, who trains both, splits with either Khan or Pacquiao.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.