This is a response to Amir Khan teams statement regarding the failed deal. There have been a lot of stories since this deal broke down which have not been accurate coming from the Khan camp. Out of respect for Pauls fans and the general boxing public I feel I must state the facts publicly.
I Francie McNicholl Paul McCloskey’s manager would like to set the record straight and let the public decide the truth from fiction. It was Paul’s decision alone to not accept the offer. After initial contact had been made with the Khan team we all agreed the contest could happen subject to conditions being agreed.
The Khan team sent an e mail to Matchroom with an offer of a cash amount that Paul would get paid for the fight. It also said they would require options on Paul’s next three fights should he win the contest. The cash amount offered was way below what one would expect for an unbeaten European champion in a world title fight. Barry Hearn contacted Khans team asking for two and a half times this offer, which was rejected. Khans team were then sent an email stating the amount that Paul received for his last European fight. Contrary to Amir Khans teams claims their offer was only TWICE the figure Paul has made before, not 3,4,5,or 6.
As Khans team would not negotiate on this low figure. I suggested we look at other ways that could improve the deal on Paul’s part to make it worthy of a world title fight, namely commission on:
1: Ticket sales
2: PPV sales
I suggested that we would get a commission on the tickets that we sold on an incentive basis. The more we sold the higher percentage we would make, up to a figure of 25 percent. Khans team would only agree to 20 PERCENT COMMISSION ON SALES OVER AND ABOVE 100k.
Pay per view
We do accept that Amir is the pay per view attraction, with that in mind we suggested that we acquire the viewing figures of Amir Khan Vs Maidana fight. We then proposed that if those figures increased for this fight we would look for one of three options:
1: 50/50 split on Irish sales over and above the last figures.
2: 20 percent on overall sales over and above the last figures.
We were prepared to risk that these deals could mean nothing to us if PPV or ticket sales did not increase. If they did both parties would benefit.
3: 80 / 20 split on nett revenue generated from the contest. This option was suggested because Khans team said they were taking all the risks if this fight did not sell.
Khans team offered 25 PERCENT ON PPV SALES OVER AND ABOVE 200000. The Khan Maidana fight did not get anywhere near this number, so this offer was potentially worthless.
The next requirements of Khans team were their three options on Paul if he won the fight.
1: Khan gets a rematch. Paul would be paid a cash amount.
2: Paul’s next fight would be promoted by Khan and they take a percentage.
3: Paul’s next fight again would be promoted by Khan and they take a percentage.
On option one we felt Paul as world champion should receive a 50/50 percentage split of the rematch. The cash amount offered was only equal to what we asked for in the first fight. We were willing to accept. options two and three.
These are the facts in black and white taken from our correspondence with team Khan Amir has said that we kept moving the goal posts . On the contrary we tried to move around the Blockage caused by their low offer, which by all accounts was even less than Peterson’s offer. Amir is a great fighter , therefore above all people he knows how tough this sport can be ,he also knows the dedication commitment and sacrifices boxers have to make .He should show respect to his fellow professionals and offer them fair purses.
Shah has said they gave in to so many of our demands obviously had they agreed to any of our requests we would not be in this position. We were never going to sell Paul short he is no walkover in the ring and we will make sure he is not outside it either Paul really wanted this fight and we feel that we did everything in our power to make it happen. Our requests were very reasonable in the circumstances. We regret that the Khan team could not agree. The general boxing public are the ones who are missing out on a great fight for this part of the world. ONE THAT WE KNOW PAUL WOULD HAVE WON AND RETAIN HIS UNBEATEN RECORD.
We wish the Khan team all the best in the future.
We would like to thank all the fans for their support. 2011 is going to be a big year for Paul McCloskey and his fans. He and his team believe he will be world champion by the end of this year.
Francie Mc Nicholl
Mc Closkey team
30/01/2011, 6:47 PM
sligobhoy67
potentially the worst offer any boxing has been asked to accept.
So they want him to fight on the cheap just so he has a chance at winning a world title. Fair enough.
But if he wins, he must give them a rematch. Again, Fair enough. But on the same money as the last fight! Jokers! so the champion gets £100k and the challenger gets £2m
And even if he wins the second fight the Khans still have options on his future fights!
its modern day slavery
30/01/2011, 11:47 PM
Magicme
Im looking forward to seeing my old college mate Christine McMahon getting into the ring in her big fight. Go on Chrissy, show them what Monaghan women are made of! :D
07/02/2011, 3:07 PM
Spudulika
McCloskey - Khan goes ahead, the payday over double what was supposedly offered before. Good luck to Paul, I think it'll be a tough ask, everything will be on Khan's side, though if he plays smart and stays out of trouble he can wear him down.
14/02/2011, 12:14 PM
Royal rover
the winner of lee V McEwan fight will guarantee a world title shot - McEwan trains in the same club as myself when he's based in the uk - he good how good i don't really know - at the same time Freddy Roach is no mug - McEwan sort of bases himself on Steve collins type fighter - he too was trained by roach should be interesting
26/02/2011, 9:47 PM
sligobhoy67
Spudulika, it was a great tactical play by McCloskeys manager to get the deal for McCloskey
19/03/2011, 2:03 PM
sligobhoy67
What is going on with this country?
Ireland's have two men fighting for "world titles" tonight and there hasnt been a hint of interest whilst the Cricket thread is bursting at the seems?
Vegas comes to Dublin as The Jackal and Casey are Bang on weight
Was a bit wary of the ticket price initially as I don't exactly have funds to be throwing around at the minute, but I'm well up for this now having seen the weigh-in and have decided at the last minute, "what the hell; let's do it". I'll make sacrifices. So, at the minute, I'm trying to get two tickets for the McCloskey section. Obviously, they're no longer selling them through his site. There are still tickets available on Ticketmaster but they're all for the general section, which isn't optimal. I'll have to ring the MEN Arena in an hour or two to see if they have any as I was told that the McCloskey camp might have sent a few surplus ones back.
Are you heading yourself? Or even better, I don't suppose you'd be aware of any spares floating about or where the before and after gatherings are taking place? Should be a cracking fight anyway and great to see that there's a large Irish contingent coming over for it.
16/04/2011, 11:57 AM
DannyInvincible
Have managed to get tickets sorted, so not to worry.
16/04/2011, 9:36 PM
Spudulika
Watching the McCloskey fight on Primetime, I don't know who the clown from England is whos co-commentating, what a fool. He's so blinkered he needs to be shot. The Yank
no, has to be a deliberate head butt, Khan held and head butted.
16/04/2011, 9:38 PM
Spudulika
Maybe the ref and commentators have forgotten it's illegal to lead with the head. 4 times in 2 rounds Khan tried, 4th time lucky. Disgusting.
17/04/2011, 6:44 AM
DannyInvincible
Very disappointing, that. Felt for McCloskey. His whole career's been building up to this title shot, so it's hard to know where he'll go now. He was evading Khan's punches very well and never looked hurt or startled throughout, even after receiving the headbutt. Only getting to see the video close-ups now but there was no reason to stop the fight. Who knows what might have happened had it gone on with Khan wearing himself down to no avail? Bewilderment soon turned to disgust once people realised what was going on. There's going to be an investigation into the decision to stop the fight so we'll see what becomes of that but I wouldn't be too hopeful of anything coming from it. Can't see Khan's promoters offering any rematch either, in spite of the calls for one from McCloskey's camp. Out of interest, had the headbutt been adjudged to be foul play as opposed to accidental would Khan have been disqualified or merely deducted points?
I'd agree with Bunce on much of what he said, except that Khan is a fantastic fighter, he's a good fighter, hyped to the hilt and was being found out by McCloskey. McCloskey was making him look a fool, and sadly boxing judges don't give points for good defence, nor were they awarding points for his clipping shots that were weakening Khan. Khan was out on his feet in the 5th and 6th, he was in danger of being stopped so the officials stepped in and stopped it. The butt was deliberate, you can see how he looks for his target, and he should have been disqualified. It just goes to show that money rules in boxing and well paid and fed officials will do as they're told.
Still pretty gutted over the whole thing but I had a great week following Dudey about. Agh well, we'll have to wait for Macklin to go to Germany and beat Sturm!
Got to interview Freddie Roach and Oscar De La Hoya and fell out with the Khans but the highlight was Dudey himself - a really classy guy.
Good win for Andy Lee last night, watched it online and he just did what he had to. His opponent was just that, an opponent. Looked proficient but never had the power to threaten. Lee didn't go overboard and should push his way into real world title contention now. Crowd were happy.
