Amir Khan - 'I'm doing this for my UK fans'

Amir Khan has said that his fight against Paul McCloskey in Manchester on Saturday night was never about the money - it was to keep a promise to his UK fans.

"I want to give my UK fans a chance to see me," said the WBA light-welterweight champion in a hastily arranged conference call, organised to announce Primetime TV's coverage of the bill.

"I could have gone back to America and fought there.  I chose to come home and fight in front of my loyal fans who've followed me since the Olympics.  I want to build my career in America but I did promise the UK fans I'd bring them a big fight.  I'm doing this for my fan base.  I'm not making as much as I did for my last few fights, but I'm doing it for them."

Khan said he was never in any doubt that the contest would take place.

"There was not one day where I thought the fight would be off.  I've been training hard for the fight.  They (his advisers) kept me out of the way. I've always been in the limelight from day one and you always get ups and downs. I knew we were going to get to the bottom of it."

Despite being pressed, Khan's chief adviser Asif Vali would not comment on questions about the perceived fall out with Sky, nor on the comment of Eddie Hearn (McCloskey's promoter) that the move to Primetime TV was "commercial suicide".

As for the undercard, Vali would not be drawn on that either, simply acknowledging that it has been "tough to put it altogether" and saying that he would hopefully be in a position to confirm the bill by tomorrow lunchtime.

David McConachie from Primetime TV announced that they would be handling all of the production, including supplying a feed for HBO in the States. He also said that the first half hour of the show, from 7.30pm to 8pm would be free to air before encryption kicked in.

Vali was keen to point out that there is a lot of public interest in the fight - he expects 15,000 tickets to be sold and was in receipt of an astonishing 300 media credential applications.