Sky Sports' decision not to air Amir Khan's fights with Paul McCloskey and Zab Judah has drawn the ire of Khan and his U.S. promoter Golden Boy Promotions, which may not offer future fights to the British network.
A Saturday press conference is in the works for smack-talkers Adrien Broner and Paulie Malignaggi.
GBP and Sky Sports bump heads over network's treatment of Khan
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Golden Boy Promotions fired a shot over the bow of Sky Sports over its treatment of Amir Khan, warning the British broadcasting network that a snub against one Golden Boy fighter will be considered an insult to all. Khan's recent title defense against Irishman Paul McCloskey was scheduled to be a pay-per-view event for Sky Sports until the undercard fell apart, prompting the network to demote the show to one of its regular subscription channels. Khan's management team rejected that arrangement and the fight subsequently was shown on Primetime, another pay-per-view channel. That series of events created bad blood between Khan and Sky Sports, which recently announced that it chose not to televise Khan's July 23 junior welterweight unification showdown with Zab Judah. That choice angered Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who threatened Friday to deprive Sky Sports of his entire stable of fighters in the future. "We are a family," Schaefer said. "If anyone turns their back on Amir, they turn their back on Golden Boy. Mark my words, England will have the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world within the next 12-18 months." Khan's reaction over the snub is confusion. "I don't know if it's me, or if they don't enjoy my boxing style, but when I was with [former promoter] Frank Warren they showed my fights with [Dmitri] Salita and [Oisin] Fagan, and they were nobodies," said the reigning World Boxing Association beltholder. "There are some big, big fights down the line for me, and hopefully they will come knocking on my door."
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