Amir Khan Retains Title Belt

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan retained his WBA light welterweight title by a technical decision on Saturday against challenger Paul McCloskey in Manchester, England. The fight was stopped by the referee in the sixth round because of a nasty cut over McCloskey’s left eye.  The ending was somewhat controversial, as referee Luiz Pabon deemed that the cut was a result of an accidental clash of heads. He summoned ringside doctor Phil Sahu, who believed McCloskey couldn’t continue with blood seeping into his eye and impairing his vision.  McCloskey was livid as Pabon sent the fight to the judges for a decision. And all three judges not only had Khan leading 60-54 in the 6th round, but they also had Khan the victor in each of the first five rounds, giving Khan the technical decision. 

After the fight, McCloskey’s camp was adamant that the fight should not have been stopped and that he was deserving of an immediate rematch. While Khan’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, was somewhat sympathetic to McCloskey’s sentiments, he was firm in stating that Khan would be moving on to other challengers in the immediate future. In fact, even before this fight, word had been circulating that a unification bout with WBO and WBC title holder Timothy Bradley had already been penciled in for July 23rd of this year in Las Vegas. With the win, Khan improved to 25-1 with 17 knockouts.

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