The WBA light-welterweight champion's defence against McCloskey in Manchester was downgraded from Sky Box Office to the broadcaster's regular subscription channels before Khan confirmed on Monday he would instead appear on minor pay-per-view platform Primetime TV.
It has been reported that Sky took the MEN Arena card off Box Office as a quality control decision, not due to sales figures, after a strong undercard was weakened by withdrawals. However, Khan's camp was unhappy to be placed on Sky Sports 3 and not 1 or 2.
“This is what happens in boxing,” Khan said. “There are going to be times when there are pay cuts, but what drives me is all the training I have done. You know, it's a big lump sum that's been cut but what can you do?”
A Sky Sports spokesman said earlier: “Khan versus McCloskey will not be shown on Sky Box Office or any of the Sky Sports channels as it has not proved possible to reach an agreement on TV scheduling. Financial terms were agreed and a solution was offered for the fight to appear on Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports HD3 following the decision not to broadcast on Sky Box Office. It was not accepted.”
The spokesman added: “The Khan versus McCloskey bill had been announced as a Sky Box Office event two months ago. Since then there were several changes to the bill so we made the decision – before the main promotional campaign started and Sky customers booked the event - to give it to Sky Sports viewers."
