Amir Khan has defended his decision to fight Paul McCloskey at the MEN Arena in Manchester on Saturday.
Fight can take me to bigger and better things says Khan
Amir Khan has defended his decision to fight Paul McCloskey at the MEN Arena in Manchester on Saturday.
The Bolton fighter's decision to hold a voluntary defence of his WBA title against McCloskey has attracted criticism in some quarters.
Although the Northern Irish southpaw, who is the reigning European champion, remains unbeaten in 22 fights, he is seen by many as a step down in calibre for Khan.
And while Khan clearly has his sights set on major names in America next, including a big summer unification clash with WBC and WBO champion Timothy Bradley, he stopped short of calling Saturday's clash a warm-up.
"McCloskey wasn't on my radar until after the Maidana fight," said Khan, whose last fight was a superb victory over big-hitting Argentinian Marcos Maidana.
"I wanted the winner of Devon Alexander v Timothy Bradley (which Bradley won in January) but I thought it was too long a gap to wait and that I might as well have a fight in between.
Smarter
"Looking at the world rankings, McCloskey's name was there. So I thought 'why don't I fight a British guy, from Northern Ireland, who is going to bring a great big following and who people from England know too, instead of an American opponent who nobody knows here?' So that's what we chose.
"You can never take any fight easy but Maidana is heavy handed and I don't think McCloskey hits as hard.
"But he is going to be smarter than Maidana, I know that. He's a southpaw, too, which makes it a little bit awkward.
"But I think it's a fight that can take me to bigger and better things. Winning this will take me to Bradley.
"We want to get this fight done first. There's no point looking too far ahead."
Khan is hoping his partnership with American promotional giants Golden Boy will help in the negotiations with Bradley.
"We know what we want but we're not in talks about it yet," he continued.
"I want to get this guy (McCloskey) out the way and then as soon as I have got him out the way then Golden Boy Promotions, who I'm with, can negotiate the big fight against Bradley and hopefully we can get that down in America or maybe here, which would be amazing.
Amazing
"Boxing is a business so it's whatever makes financial sense. I'll go with the flow, I've got a team to do that job for me. I'm happy to fight anywhere, I don't mind fighting in America or here, although I'd like to have it here.
"I did promise my fans at home I was going to bring big fights over here."
McCloskey, who has ended 12 of his 22 fights with a knockout, defended his right to have a tilt at the world title.
"With me being European champion and the highest ranked European fighter in the world, it was the most natural fight to have over here for Khan," he said.
"From a negotiating point of view they held all the aces but I'm happy enough with what I've got (financially) and where I'm at. The deal was set up and my team was happy enough with it.
"The opportunity here is amazing. Being honest with you, a couple of years ago I would have fought Amir Khan for nothing, just to prove the point. But actually that is not the case now, I've got a right to have this fight, I have earned the right to be here.
"I hope they are looking by me. You never know."
