McCloskey camp cut up by ‘staggering’ decision
Khan’s defence of his WBA world light welterweight title against McCloskey was shaping up for a thrilling finish but ended in farce when the contest was stopped at the end of the sixth round after the European champion had sustained a cut over his eye from a clash of heads at the MEN in Manchester on Saturday night.
“The cut is almost non-existent, when you look at it,” Hearn said. “From what I saw of that referee he should never be allowed in a boxing ring again. You don’t take away people’s dreams like that and rob the paying public.
“Amir Khan is a decent man and he would gain a lot of friends around the world if he did the right thing (and granted a rematch).
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that there should be a rematch — McCloskey’s been robbed. This was McCloskey’s dream chance, the referee and doctor should hang their heads in shame. I’ve seen 10 or 20 times worse cuts than that.
“It is a shameful decision, we will make a complaint and we want a rematch. I have been in the game a long time and I am absolutely astonished, I cannot believe that fight was stopped.”
There were 30 seconds remaining in the round when McCloskey sustained the injury and Puerto Rican referee, Luis Pabon, controversially stopped the contest to the horror of the 7,000 Irish fans in the arena and left McCloskey’s team fuming as the ‘cut’ turned out to be little more than a nick.
The decision went to the scorecards and the judges had given all six rounds to the champion, although this was not indicative of the European champion’s contribution as he had Khan on the backfoot for much of the time.
“The way the doctor put it to me, I thought I was badly cut,” McCloskey said. “He told me it was really bad. How did I get the cut? I wouldn’t say he did it intentionally but it was a clash of heads.
“I’m numb. I’m really angry. 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.”
“They didn’t even give our cut man a chance to work on it. My vision was 100%. I told the doctor it wasn’t that bad. I came back to the corner and these boys couldn’t believe it. It’s ridiculous.
“Amir was knackered and I was getting stronger. Amir had fast hands. He hurt me in the fourth round but that’s boxing, you get hurt..”
Khan was adamant the fight was going his way and insisted he was never going to lose.
“He didn’t win one round,” he said. “I was hurting him, I wasn’t tired, and I promise you if it had gone two more rounds he would have been knocked out. There is no point in a rematch. If the fight had gone on longer he would have got badly hurt.At the end of the day the doctor is there for the safety of the fighter.”
Cavan’s Andy Murray moved a step closer to a title shot when he extended his unbeaten run to 24 fights with a points victory over Blackburn’s Graeme Higginson. Referee John Lothan scored the contest 78-75 in favour of the Irishman.
“It wasn’t exactly my best ever performance, but it was all right,” Murray said. “It was my first fight of the year — my first in just under six months in fact — so it was okay.”
And Dubliner Jamie Kavanagh maintained his unbeaten record with an impressive win over English journeyman Sid Razak.
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