IRISH MIDDLEWEIGHT ANDY LEE has tipped fellow countryman Paul McCloskey to give Amir Khan a run for his money when the pair clash in Manchester on Saturday evening.
Khan, the WBA Super Lightweight champion, is the bookmakers’ hot favourite to retain his title but Lee reckons the 31-year-old underdog from Dungiven, Co. Derry has the tools required to cause a bit of an upset.
“Khan is definitely the favourite but Paul has a chance,” Lee told RTE’s Sport at 7 last night.
“I’ve been talking to Paul and he’s very focused and very determined. He’s an honest bloke and he’s going to give it 110%.”
It’s not going to be a walk in the park for Amir and you never know what could happen on the night. Paul’s got punching power – he’s shown that – and if he can land one of those big right hands, you never know what might go down.
One advantage which the Irish fighter may possess is the fact that he has not been distracted by the ongoing wrangle over TV rights which have occupied the Khan camp in recent weeks.
The fight was initially scheduled to be shown on Sky Sports pay-per-view on Saturday evening. However, when the network decided to switch the broadcast to one of their standard channels due to the poor volume of sales, Khan’s team pulled the whole deal.
The fight will now be broadcast exclusively in the UK and Ireland on Primetime, another subscription channel.
“There were a lot of distractions with the promotion of the fight in England,” Lee said, adding that “all those things could be distractions to Khan and it could give Paul a chance.”
While McCloskey is unbeaten in his 22 professional bouts so far, his opponent has suffered one high-profile defeat, a stunning first-round knockout against Colombian Bredis Prescott in September 2008.
Since then, the 24-year-old has won six consecutive bouts including a gruelling defence of his title against Marcos Maidana in December. Though Khan won the bout on all three of the judges’ scorecards, Lee believes that his performance was far from perfect.
“There are a lot of question marks about Khan,” he said. “He was knocked out that one time and he’s still trying to recuperate. Even though he had a good victory against Maidana, he was still rocked a couple of times in the fight.”
Speaking to reporters earlier in the week, McCloskey appeared to agree with his friend’s assessment of Khan.
“Every boxer has a few weaknesses and Amir made a few mistakes against Maidana which nearly cost him,” McCloskey said.
I am not going to say what they were but I will be looking to exploit them.
Listen to more of Andy Lee’s thoughts on the fight (courtesy of RTE Sport at 7) >
