Amir Khan’s WBA light welterweight title defense against Paul McCloskey yesterday was a rare chance for fans to see him fight on home soil, with his bouts set to return to the US.
A broadcasting dispute has overshadowed Khan’s first fight in England since 2009, with the boxer feeling US TV companies are showing him more support.
“I’m not going to say it could be my last fight in Britain,” Khan said. “But I think it will be a long time until I come back again because, while I want to have the big fights in England, it will be quite difficult to make them. I think they will probably be more likely in America.”
Yesterday’s bout in Manchester, England, was moved from BSkyB’s pay-per-view channel to its regular subscription sports channel, which gave Khan (24-1, 17 KOs) more exposure, but less money.
In protest, Khan took his fight away from the network to an obscure channel in Britain, Primetime. HBO will show the fight in the US.
“I’ve always said from day one that there is more money to be made for me in America if I fought there, but I chose to come here and fight live in front of my own fans,” Khan said. “Being a British fighter and having more support from American TV just shows that as a British fighter, I should have had British TV supporting me more.”
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya, who secured the HBO deal, said that without controversy, boxing is “not an event.”
And the former six-weight champion backed Khan to join himself and Manny Pacquiao as a multi-weight world titleholder in the coming years.
“Amir Khan has made a tremendous, tremendous splash in America,” De La Hoya said. “His fights last year with Paulie Malignaggi [in New York] and Marcos Maidana [in Las Vegas] have really made him almost a household name in America.”
Khan expects his regular sparring sessions with Pacquiao to stand him in good stead.
“Training with Manny has helped me because he is a southpaw, he gave me some good tips,” Khan said.
Khan’s decision to relocate to Los Angeles to train under Freddie Roach following his shock 2008 loss to Breidis Prescott has already paid dividends.
“When we spar, it’s just full-on sparring, we learn from each other and I don’t think I could get better sparring than Manny Pacquiao,” Khan said.
Meanwhile, the 31-year-old McCloskey (22-0, 12 KOs) took time out from his day job managing a supermarket to prepare for the fight.
“In my previous fights, I stayed at home and used to work five days a week with my wife, where we run a supermarket,” he said.
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