Contrariwise: A Few Thoughts on Khan-McCloskey

Everyone is writing the obvious things about this past weekend's fights, so I will briefly cover the big news and then spend some time on offering a different view of the cut-stoppage of Khan-McCloskey than I am seeing from most fans.

JuanMa Lopez's TKO loss to Orlando Salido is not going to be the end of his career. It might be the necessary motivation to improve his defense and make him better than ever and it might not. By highlighting his vulnerability, however, it adds excitement factor to his fights down the line. It may also keep him from ever having a problem finding good fights. Some people will sign up for certain defeat because of the belief that if they can just tap the puncher's chin, they will be heroes. How do you think a fighter like Wlad Klitscho lands fights? Worst case scenario is JuanMa becoming the Arturo Gatti of the 2010s. Who would complain about that?

The manager of one lightweight prospect, whose fighter had fought at 140 and had the punch to make most experts pick him to beat the "exposed" Ortiz, once told me that Ortiz was too big. The gist was that his problems were caused by inexperience and difficulty making weight. Ortiz was too big to be a lightweight or junior welter, was going to be a welterweight, and was going to be a beast when he and his handlers realized it.

Everything I've seen fans say about the Khan-McCloskey stoppage has been negative and RingTv.com's Dougie Fischer has expressed his agreement with these views in his mailbag. Personally, however, I don't see what the problem is. Was the stoppage strictly necessary as a result of the cut? Of course not. That's not the point and I don't believe it is why the referee and the doctor so quickly resolved to stop the fight after the cut happened.

Amir Khan had, in the eyes of nearly everyone watching, won every one of the first six rounds and Paul McCloskey had not shown the ability to adjust his style in order to stop Khan from winning enough of the latter six to clinch the decision easily. He certainly had not shown the power to turn things around with one punch or to stop Khan. The way the fight was going was very predictable: a one sided decision win, possibly a shutout, for Khan with McCloskey continuing to take punches for no good reason. What would have been the point to letting it go on? Were we enjoying the fight so much that we lost something?

What is interesting is that Khan-McCloskey was shaping up to be the kind of fight that /should/ be stopped but is not. If it had gone on to a boring and one-sided shutout with Khan feeding McCloskey right hands all night then someone would have raised the question about why it was allowed to go on. Those are precisely the kind of fights that damage a fighter most seriously in the long run and no one likes to watch them. I think we should all be happy it was cut short.