I have a strong feeling that no matter how much I would like to see McCloskey make a fight of it vs Khan and give him some cause for concern, but obviously with Khan prevailing, I can see Khan landing a big shot, rounds 1-3, that will keep McCloskey down. McCloskey keeps his hands pretty low and with Khan's speed, Khan can land in bunches and land quite easily I feel. Khan's jab will be very potent I feel and it will be very interesting to see once Khan lands the jab and then throws a combo, how McCloskey reacts. McCloskey has very little head movement from what i've seen of him too and moves quite statically. He may have power, but not on the level of Maidana and I can't really see him truly hurting Khan. He's probably also used to being the aggressor in his fights, but vs Khan, I don't think he will be and it will be Khan who will take the initiative from the start I feel and I can see this ending early. What are your thoughts?
Lets face it, McCloskey has not been brought in here to make Khan look bad. I don't think for that matter, that McCloskey is another O-Sheen Fagan. It don't think it will be early, as either Khan or McCloskey will be too cagey. Also, how many lefties has Khan fought??
I haven't seen alot of mccloskey being honest, but from what I have seen he looks pretty good, good skills. However he does leave his head out a bit which means Khan will land frequently with his speed and range. There's a chance Khan catches him with something he doesn't see coming and takes him out early.
I think McCloskey's a cutey, I'll be impressed if Khan blows him out. That said, it seems a horrible style match up for him. There's a fair chance this'll play out like a poor man's Jones-Toney, IMO. With McCloskey too adept for Khan to ever come close to stopping, but too slow on his feet to ever get close enough to really get into the fight. I'll have to watch more tapes to come down solidly on this though. If the speed disparity proves to much, you're right, it probably will end up ending early because McCloskey's style is based on being able to out slick a guy and without that he'll be naked. But I don't expect it to. And the longer it goes the better McCloskey will look I think, because he'll be the one in there with a brain making observations and adjustments.
What you have to consider is whether McCloskey can keep his composure etc in a fight much, much bigger than he's had before. Khan doesn't just have a speed advantage, he has a pretty big experience advantage, and almost certainly confidence advantage. How well McCloskey does depends partly on how well he fares on the world stage.
Yeah, that's part of what makes the first few rounds quite dangerous. An early stoppage isn't out of the question. But I do think the longer it goes on the more it favours him. That's usually the way of it with reactive counter punchers, and the dynamics compounded by the nerves issue & Khan's suckiness in the latter parts of fights. It's another really interesting fight. As much as it's possible that Khan blows him out early, it's possible that we could see McCloskey clowning this numpty & making him look as inept as he is in the last 3rd if he can get past the early storm & get a foot tread in the fight. I'll tune in for this :Thumbs:
Well in fairness, I actually won't be shocked if Ortiz (who's been brought in to cash as a resume name) beats Berto. So it might be an interesting fight. But Berto reminds me of an impoverished man's Meldrik Taylor with even less defence or sense of distancing. He's got a great right upper cut on the inside, some natural aggression but not a whole much else. Khan's 1 dimensional as shit but at least he does 1 thing well. And while McCloskey's unproven, being proven in the sense Ortiz is doesn't sell a fight to me.... 2 decent fights, I'll watch both, but I'm more interested in Khan-McCloskey.:Thumbs:
Yeah, though I actually prefer Berto (well actually I don't know, he's a bit of a bitch really, unwilling to step up in competition), Khan is a better fighter. I have to say though Hut, I'll be surprised if McCloskey wins this. He just seems like a classic European level fighter. Good fighter, solid skills etc, but just doesn't quite have the ability to make a name for himself at world level. Though I certainly hope that McCloskey does clown the airheaded numpty ;)
I'll be surprised too. I pretty much agree with your assessment, I expect the gap in physical talent to be too much. I do like McCloskey's style though so I'll tune in.
There's a possibility McCloskey gets blown out early. But if he doesn't, I think this fight could be a good learning experience for Khan.
I deleted that post. I get pissed off when people call world class fighters shit, I shouldn't be doing it myself. But I think Berto is really getting overrated by HBO. I don't think he's even as good as Khan and I don't exactly think the world of him.
