• Boxing

Khan retains crown amid real controversy

Amir Khan celebrates his victory © PA Photos

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Amir Khan retained his WBA light-welterweight title in deeply controversial circumstances after the fight was stopped towards the end of the sixth round due to a head injury to challenger Paul McCloskey.

The two fighters engaged in an accidental clash of heads midway through the sixth round, an impact that opened up a cut above the bridge of the Dungiven fighter's nose. After assessment from the medical team the fight was immediately stopped, a decision that outraged McCloskey's ringside team - including promoter Barry Hearn.

With almost six rounds completed the bout therefore went to the judges' scorecards, with all three recording the fight 60-54 in the defending champion's favour, handing him a fourth defence of his strap by a technical unanimous decision.

"I'm numb. I'm really angry," McCloskey told the BBC afterwards. "The plan was to box him for five or six rounds and then step on the gas, and I thought it was going to plan up until that point. I thought the referee was going to cite Khan for the headbutt, I thought there might be a disqualification but obviously I didn't see [the headbutt].

"They didn't even give our cut man a chance to work on it. My vision was 100 per cent. I told the doctor it wasn't that bad. I came back to the corner [when the fight had been stopped] and these boys couldn't believe it. It's ridiculous."

Khan had a different version of events, however, suggesting McCloskey had asked for the fight to be stopped while being examined inside the ring - before closing the door on any chance of the 31-year-old being granted a rematch.

"I wanted to knock him out. He was getting beaten every round, all six rounds," Khan said. "He's got that style - his head kept going low. I ain't the referee, I ain't the doctor. Paul McCloskey said he didn't want to carry on. I think I would have knocked him out in a few more rounds.

"I wish he'd stayed in there because I was getting better and better. But that's what happens in boxing. Head clashes happen, fights get stopped. But he chose to stop the fight.

"If you look at [the television replay] in slow-motion, he said he wanted to stop the fight. I was winning every round, you know what was going to happen next [he would get knocked out]."

When asked about the possibility of a rematch, Khan said: "I want to go to bigger and better things now. Why do I have to go backwards?"

Paul McCloskey shows off the cut that saw his fight stopped © PA Photos

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While few inside the MEN Arena were pleased with the manner in which the fight was stopped - especially as there was some debate about the 'accidental' nature of the head-to-head contact - the scorecards underlined the one-sided momentum of the contest up until the decisive flashpoint.

McCloskey, the consensus underdog before the fight, showed no signs of agreeing with that assessment as he opened the first round with a certain swagger. Lowering his hands almost immediately and inviting the champion to try and land a punch - while throwing all his weight behind every flurry of his own he tried (but failed) to make count - the Northern Irishman certainly seemed to make things difficult for his opponent.

But Khan managed to land just enough blows to take the round, a trend that continued in the second - altough Khan certainly seemed to struggle with the movement and discipline of a southpaw opponent he initially looked to have underestimated.

As the rounds wore on Khan still failed to land meaningful punches with any power, despite managing to be busy enough to have the obvious advantage on the judges' scorecards, but there were clear signs he was beginning to work out his opponent and was increasingly trying to set traps in order to catch McCloskey cleanly.

Round five showed further progress, with McCloskey on the canvas at one point, and round six finally saw Khan string together a few meaningful sequences. Then came the point where both men leaned in and clashed heads, with the doctor making the disputed decision to end proceedings - and the referee deciding that the contact had been unintentional from both men.

"It's a shameful decision," McCloskey's promoter, Hearn, said. "If the doctor makes that decision then he shouldn't be officiating. Paul McCloskey has been robbed. The cut is not that bad - he certainly could have continued.

"We'll make a complaint, obviously. We'll ask for a rematch, obviously."

Earlier in the evening in Manchester, Lee Purdy knocked out Craig Watson in the fifth round to win the British welterweight title, while Rendall Munroe defeated Andrei Isaeu on points to take the vacant WBA super-bantamweight title.

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