By Tom Donelson
(Member of the Boxing Writers Association, International Boxing Research Organization and contributes to numerous boxing publications)

Paul McCloskey challenged Amir Khan for Khan’s version of the junior Welterweight title. For Khan, a victory meant a big dollar fight with Timothy Bradley and who knows from there? Khan decided to take the action to McCloskey and while neither fighter appeared to hurt each other, Khan’s activity won the first round as he threw more punches and connected on more.

Khan led with the right twice in the first minute of the second round but did little damage but McCloskey played a waiting game as if looking for the right moment to strike back or was it that he was simply unable to solve Khan’s hand speed?  Khan started to throw more effective combinations at the end of the round but still did not hit McCloskey with solid shots.

By the end of the fourth round, McCloskey was fighting defensively and soaked up the harder punches of Khan but this strategy was hardly winning rounds.    Halfway through the sixth round, Khan stunned McCloskey with a combination and an accidental head butt open up a cut over McCloskey left eye.  The fight went to the scorecard and this resulted in an easy decision for Amir Khan as he won every round.

Andre Berto defended his version of the Welterweight against Victor Ortiz, a talented fighter who had a disappointing loss to Marco Maidana and a majority draw against Lamont Peterson, fights that had many questioning his heart.
Continue reading Two undefeated champions, Berto and Lopez, lose their belt and their zero! →