By Chris LaBate

Irish junior welterweight Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12KOs) said he received a boost in confident after watching WBA/IBF champion Amir Khan dominate Zab Judah for five rounds in their July Las Vegas clash. McCloskey suffered his first professional loss against Khan back in April with a six round technical decision at the MEN Arena in Manchester. The fight was stopped after McCloskey suffered a cut from a clash of heads.

“A few people got on to me saying Khan destroyed a world champion in five rounds but couldn’t lay a glove on me. And they are right,” McCloskey told Bourne Local. “Obviously I lost the fight but it was under controversial circumstances after a clash of heads.

“Judah’s display gives you a bit of a confident boost and proves I am at world level. But you don’t just wake up in the morning and get that type of confidence. You have to work hard and train hard. I have ability but you have work hard too.”

McCloskey will get a big shot at redemption on September 10th at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, when he faces the only boxer to defeat Khan, with a 54-seconds knockout - Colombian pro Breidis Prescott (24-2, 19KOs).

"I want to fight for a world title and to be honest I don’t care who it is against. I have the hurdle of Prescott to overcome first so you can understand why I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” McCloskey said.