By James Slater: Ireland’s Paul McCloskey, a very unfortunate loser to Amir Khan in his sole world title shot so far, has been craving another big fight ever since being stopped on that somewhat superficial-looking cut last spring. Well, “Dudey” may never get a second shot at Khan, but he is now just one win away from a possible shot at interim WBO 140-pound king and all-time great Juan Manuel Marquez.
The word on a number of web sites is that Marquez’ team have mentioned McCloskey as a possibility for “Dinamita’s” planned July 14th bout at Cowboys Stadium in Texas. Originally, it was Brandon Rios who would face the legendary Mexican in July, but “Bam Bam” looked so poor in being handed a gift of a points win over the blatantly ripped off Richard Abril, that he may have ruined the potential match-up.
And now McCloskey may gain from Rios’ loss.
“Paul’s name has been mentioned by JMM’s team in the last week and I reached out to Top Rank yesterday to let them know that we’d love the fight,” promoter Eddie Hearn said as quoted by Fightnews.com. “I think we are in with a decent chance but a convincing win against [DeMarcus] Corley in front of a packed King’s Hall would strengthen our case for a July clash with Marquez.”
McCloskey is, of course a southpaw, and Marquez, wanting to face archrival Manny Pacquiao for a fourth time later this year, wants a southpaw in July. So McCloskey is certainly going to be crossing his fingers. The proud Irishman must take care of the ultra-experienced Corley first, though.
32-year-old McCloskey, 23-1(12) and coming off a big win over the dangerous Breidis Prescott, will face 37-year-old fellow lefty Corley, 38-19-1(22) on May 5th. Now, all of a sudden, what was already an interesting fight has become a much bigger affair. It could be that all that stands between McCloskey and a shot at a living legend is the well-travelled former WBO light-welterweight king from Washington D.C.
It’s hard to tell how much “Chop Chop” has left. In his last fight, back in January, the veteran won an upset decision over the much younger, unbeaten Gabriel Bracero of Puerto Rico. And, if he’s in the mood, Corley – who has been in with everyone from Floyd Mayweather Junior to Marcos Maidana – can put his bag of tricks to good use and befuddle a good fighter. And McCloskey is no monster puncher. Corley is in with a shout in this one, make no mistake about it.
But, with his passionate fans urging him on, and with the added incentive of a possible crack at Marquez to drive him on, McCloskey should be able to pound out a pretty clear points win on May 5th.
Then, if McCloskey can “do the unthinkable” and fight and defeat Marquez, Irish eyes really will be smiling.