Former world title challenger Paul McCloskey will take on former world titlist DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley on May 5th in Belfast, Ireland according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“Corley has been in with the very best in the business and is on a high after beating Bracero, so it’s a good test for me,” McCloskey said.

Before his technical decision victory over Paul McCloskey this past Saturday, WBA Super Lightweight champion Amir Khan re-signed with promoters Golden Boy Promotions and television network HBO to four year extensions according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“We’ve been negotiating the extension and last week we signed it,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “We agreed awhile ago that we would want to continue to work together. It took time while we were negotiating the best possible deal for everyone.”

“Amir’s future is so bright,” said Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya, who was ringside for the fight against McCloskey. “Amir wants to unify titles. He would also want to move up to 147 pounds eventually. There are many possibilities. He wants to fight the best and we want to make those fights for him. It’s very exciting for us. We will have a great champion for many years to come.”

Said HBO’s Kery Davis, “We believe Amir has a bright future in the sport and is an emerging star. We look forward to his next fight on HBO.”

Khan’s next fight is tentatively supposed to be a July 23 unification bout with American Timothy Bradley Jr. (27-0, 11 KOs), who owns two 140-pound belts. He unified two titles with a 10th-round technical decision victory against Devon Alexander on Jan. 29.

“We are trying to finalize that fight,” Schaefer said. “[Bradley promoter] Gary Shaw is going to be in Los Angeles this week, so we can talk about it some more. There’s been some talk that maybe the Bradley side isn’t going to take the fight or this and that, so I talked to Gary on Monday and wanted to know if we have a fight. He confirmed we have a fight, so we are working on the paperwork.”

“We are excited to continue to work with Amir,” Schaefer said. “He and his team see we have done a good job for Amir, taking his fights to New York and then to Las Vegas, and we know there are huge opportunities for Amir. I can see huge paydays for him. We want to start in July with Amir’s run with the fight against Bradley to get him in position where he can eventually fight for that No. 1 position on the pound-for-pound list.”

The much anticipated Amir Khan coming ended up successful when he scored a six round technical decision over Northern Irelands Paul McCloskey. Khan won a unanimous decision 60-54 on all 3 judges cards to retain his WBA Light Welterweight title for the fourth time. Though that only told half the tail. To his credit McCloskey had his moments during the fight.

Both fighters entered the MEN arena in Manchester to a raucous crowd thought to be around 17,000. Firstly McCloskey entered the arena cheered on by thousands of his fans who had travelled over from Ireland. It was then the turn of the champion Khan who also entered to a thunderous reception.

After the formalities the action got underway Khan’s impressive speed allowed him to win the round against McCloskey’s southpaw. It looked early as though McCloskey may be in trouble as he fought with his right hand low and this would allow Khan to pick him off but as the fight went on McCloskey who is no slouch in the speed department himself was able to get out of the way of many of Khan’s combinations.

The second was similar again with Khan’s speed being the key though to his credit McCloskey landed a few of his own shots and wasn’t troubled when Khan landed.

McCloskey has his best round of the fight in the third landing an impressive hook on a retreating Khan against the ropes which Khan acknowledges.

It prompted Khan to start fast in the fourth landing several combinations. Though McCloskey covered up well, by the end of the round both fighters engage each other to loud cheers.

Khan’s speed continues to be the deciding factor in the fifth though McCloskey keeps coming forward looking to land his own shots.

In the sixth both fighters clash heads, though it is McCloskey who comes off worse with a straight cut down towards his left eye brow. The referee Luis Pabon instructs the doctor to look at the cut surprisingly the doctor enters the ring, he then tells the referee to stop the fight. Under WBA rules the fight having gone passed the fourth round goes to the scorecards.

While it was no surprise that Khan won the decision the manner in which the fight was stopped was perplexing to many in attendance. The cut while nasty wasn’t bleeding in the eye so it was surprising the fight was stopped.

Afterwards at a rather ill tempered press conference things continued to simmer. First Oscar De La Hoya thanked everyone and was extremely happy to have such a great atmosphere and praised the fans in attendance. However things descended into chaos when he was repeatedly asked if he thought the fight should have been stopped and what he would of done as a former fighter. He repeated his answer “I don’t know I’m not a doctor” several times much to many peoples chagrin.

He continued and said he hoped to make a fight with Tim Bradley which would be a unification fight and is mooted for 23 July in America.

Khan took his turn to speak and answer questions and with tempers still flaring said “He should be happy this was stopped cos you were getting knocked out”. When asked if he would give McCloskey a rematch he continued “No point giving him a rematch”

While Khan was winning the fight he didn’t come off well in the press conference most likely due to frustration from the past week which has been rather frantic with the late announcement that the card wouldn’t be on Sky PPV and then cancelled from Sky Sports altogether only to be picked up by Primetime a channel with only several thousand viewers. It felt some what apt that after a week of shenanigans that this unsavoury end was preordained.

Stay tuned for the undercard report to follow.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBA Super Lightweight champion Amir Khan will battle Paul McCloskey on April 16th in Manchester, England in a fight between two fighters from the United Kingdom.

“I am delighted that this fight has finally been put together following some tough negotiations,” Khan said in a statement Saturday. “This is a matchup the British public want to see and will be a fantastic fight between two of the best light welterweights in the country.”

HBO will televise Khan-McCloskey on same-day tape in the United States while Sky Box Office will carry it live on pay-per-view in Britain. HBO plans to pair the fight with live coverage of Andre Berto’s welterweight defense against Victor Ortiz, who would move up from junior welterweight, from a site to be determined in the U.S. Berto-Ortiz is close to being finalized.

“Amir is back. The ‘King’ is back. It’s his homecoming, his first fight at home in over 12 months,” said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, Khan’s promoter. “He is excited to take on an undefeated fighter in Paul McCloskey. He is looking forward to the showdown. I am still working with [Berto promoter] Lou DiBella to finalize the live fight from the U.S., Berto-Ortiz. It will be a great night of boxing.”

“McCloskey is European champion and he has been calling out Amir,” Schaefer said. “Amir had other fighters on his mind, but for his homecoming, to fight a guy from Northern Ireland who is undefeated, it makes sense. It’s an important showdown for the British fight fans and for Sky. McCloskey has yet to taste defeat. That makes him dangerous and motivated because he doesn’t know how to lose. McCloskey is licking his chops to get his hands on Amir.

“I heard that he wants to go and finish what Maidana started. Of course, Amir will have something to say bout that.”