Amir Khan’s (25-1, 17Kos) a good boxer. There’s no argument about that. But it’s debatable if he’s a great one. Many people still have visions of him lying on the canvas after just 54 seconds when Breidis Prescott knocked the 24-year-old Englishman out back in 2008.

Granted, Khan’s unbeaten in seven fights since then and added the WBA Jr. Welterweight Title to his resume in with a unanimous decision over Andriy Kotelnik. He’s also beaten some good fighters in Marco Antonio Barrera, Dmitriy Salita, Paulie Malignaggi, and Marcos Maidana.

He’s now being trained by the one and only Freddie Roach and spends a lot of his time training with Manny Pacquiao. But for some reason he took a step backwards on April 16^th when he took on the little-known Paul McCloskey back in Manchester, England. McCloskey isn’t a name fighter in America and he’s not even a name fighter in his native Northern Ireland.

But he somehow got a match with Khan and the two of them sold out the MEN Arena where Khan beat him by a technical decision after the fight was stopped in the sixth round sue to an accidental head butt. The doctor checked McCloskey’s eye out and called the bout off. Not surprisingly, Khan was ahead 60-54 on all three scorecards.

For another strange reason, the fight was scheduled to be shown on pay TV by the Sky network in Britain while HBO showed a delayed broadcast of it in America. Nobody’s sure why it was on pay TV in the first place as McCloskey’s not known anywhere other than his own household. But after it was revealed sales were basically non-existent, Sky came to its senses and took the bout off of pay TV and placed it on one of its regular channels.

Khan didn’t like this though and said if HBO was interested in showing the fight to Americans then his British fans should have to ante up and pay to see him. It was reported that he’d make about 1.5 million British pounds for the scrap on pay TV, but Sky then told him he’d have to accept a pay cut to about 150,000 pounds.

The network claimed the move to regular TV would be beneficial to him since he’d be able to attract a huge audience in the hundreds of thousands. However, Khan’s ego wouldn’t accept this and he ended up signing a deal with a little-known pay TV network called Primetime where the fight supposedly sold less than 10,000 views. It was also reported that McCloskey ended up earning more than Khan, something the champion vehemently denied.

It’s a fact that Khan took a huge hit in the wallet though and his ego even cost him more by refusing to fight on regular TV. He now says he’s going to do most of his fighting in America because that’s where the money is and probably won’t fight in his homeland again for quite some time, if ever.

Khan said British TV should have supported him more and again pointed to the fact that HBO showed the fight. But he’s still missing the point as the McCloskey fight should never have been a pay per view event in the first place and many people feel the fight should never have even taken place as McCloskey wasn’t a worthy opponent.

The last time Sky showed a pay per view fight, which was between heavyweight champ David Haye and Audley Harrison, the public witnessed one of the worst fights in history as Harrison threw a total of about three punches. It was so bad the British Boxing Commission investigated the bout before releasing Harrison’s purse. There’s no way fans wanted to be fleeced again by paying to watch McCloskey fight in another perceived mismatch.

Khan should take on somebody worthy in his next fight though as he’ll likely meet WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley in a unification bout. After the argument with Sky TV though, it’s not clear if they’ll kiss and make up and show the boxing match in Britain.

Manny Pacquiao is not just the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today, he’s also a massive draw with fellow pros.

But he might just lose his status as No.1 in the hearts of fellow Filipinos soon, if Nonito Donaire continues his rise to fulfill his belief that “God has a plan and I have faith in God’s plan” to see him unify the belts at bantamweight.

Donaire, the newly-crowned WBO/WBC champ, arrived in Manila yesterday morning, his flight having taken the Bohol boxer all the way from Los Angeles to the Philippines to spend three weeks observing the Pac-Man in training.

Manny, who began his high-altitude training sessions last weekend in Baguio City, has also been joined, of course, by his trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, while British light-welterweight star Amir Khan came in on the same flight.

Khan has been lined up to face Northern Irishman Paul McCloskey back in England on April 14 to defend his WBA crown, but, as he is training under Roach, will join Manny some time over the next few days.

Pacquiao began light training last week as he gets in shape for his bout with American Shane Mosley in Las Vegas on May 7. He has so far put in some morning roadwork, a few games of basketball, and a few sessions in the mitts with long-time trainer and friend Buboy Fernandez.

Also there are the Pac-Man’s frequent sparring partners, undefeated welterweight Shawn Porter, from Akron in Ohio, and David Rodela, who is also Khan’s sparring mate, as well as Filipina WBO bantamweight Ana Julaton – a recent winner against Francesca Alcanter.

However, although these coaches and boxers are there to work with or watch Manny, 28-year-old Donaire – who stopped Fernando Montiel in the second round to pick up the crowns on February 19 – is fast becoming a favorite with a nation now engrossed with their potent pugilists.

Donaire deserves the adulation, too, having become only the third Asian fighter – and second Filipino after the great man – to hold titles in three different divisions, with crowns also in flyweight and super-flyweight.

When Mexican Montiel landed a right to Donaire’s head in Las Vegas as month, the Filipino Flash responded with a devastating left he believes was “the hardest punch of my career” that left his opponent crumpled on the canvas. But Montiel somehow got back to his feet, only for Donaire to rush over and land a left then a right that resulted in referee Russell Mora stopping the bout just five minutes and 25 seconds in.

Now ranked No.3 in the world’s pound-for-pound ratings behind Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, Donaire – $350,000 the richer after his latest victory – will return to the United States at the end of the month to prepare for his next fight, which he hopes will be a unification bout with WBA holder Anselmo Moreno, of Panama, at the Oakland Coliseum on May 28.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum is attempting to set that clash up, although no contract has yet been signed, while promoter Gary Shaw wants Moreno to face Venezuelan Lorenzo Parra ahead of Donaire.

With Donaire’s contract with Top Rank up in a few months, there has been speculation that Golden Boy Promotions will sign the in-demand Filipino. But he’s just looking to get back in the ring to face whoever manager Cameron Dunkin and Arum sign up as his next opponent.

No matter who is lined up, though, three boxing legends believe Donaire is poised to become as big a star as Manny – especially after his destruction of Montiel.

Former world champion Roy Jones Jr reckons “God had blessed this kid with wonderful talent”, while Mexican legends Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera – while commentating on the fight – said Donaire gave “an amazing performance”.

The rightly confident Donaire described himself as “a monster” after the Montiel fight. Certainly, he’s set to become a monster box office star in the world of boxing very soon.

I can’t help thinking that WBA Jr. Welterweight Champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17Kos) might be putting too much on the line too soon by fighting Paul McCloskey next month in Manchester. If you asked Paul who? don’t be embarrassed. You’ll be like most other boxing fans.

McCloskey is a 32-year-old junior welterweight from Northern Ireland, who just happens to be the undefeated European champion. He’s got a perfect 22-0 record with 12 Kos. But most of his opponents had to be fingerprinted to find out who they were. Other than Cesar Bazan of Mexico, there’s not really any recognizable international fighter on his resume.

I can understand Khan wanting to hold the fight in his home country of England, and I can understand him wanting to get back in the ring relatively soon after his war with Marcos Maidana last December, but I’m having a hard time understanding why he’s going to risk his belt against a relative unknown like McCloskey.

Khan’s a sizzling commodity right now, one of the hottest in boxing after his unanimous decision over Maidana in Vegas on HBO. He finally put it all together and what better place and way to do it to impress American boxing fans across the nation. Granted, Maidana came this close to turning Khan’s lights out near the end of the fight, but the Englishman showed what champions are made of by withstanding the onslaught. The scrap was so good U.S. boxing writers named it fight of the year.

Everybody wants a piece of him now because Khan’s made a name for himself and he’s still viewed as being beatable by many of the top contenders. The check books are coming out and huge offers have been laid on the table for the 24-year-old.

However, instead of going for a huge payday, Khan’s settled for fighting McCloskey, which will definitely slow down all of the momentum he’s built up over the last couple of years. On paper, Khan wins hands-down. This isn’t to say McCloskey’s not a good fighter and doesn’t stand a chance, because he does.

Khan was supposed to clean Breidis Prescott’s clock too back in 2008 when looking at their records, but it was Khan who was taken to the cleaners that night in just 54 seconds.  Khan’s chin still comes into question, even though it was solid against Maidana, and that’s why it’s hard to figure out why he’s going to risk his title for relative peanuts when he could be raking in the big bucks by taking on a big-name opponent.

Sure, the fight’s going to be a big draw in Britain, and I’m sure McCloskey’s going to bring a few thousand fanatics with him. The atmosphere will be electric, but other than Britain, this is seen as nothing fight against a nothing opponent. If Khan wants to fight an “easier” opponent on April 16, fans around the world would have an interest in watching him take on Prescott in a rematch because of the history between them.

If Khan happens to lose to McCloskey, he’s going to have to start all over again from square one. If he’s going to put his title and reputation on the line I just think at this point in his career he’d be better off doing it against a top opponent for buckets full of money… just in case he never gets the chance again.