Paul McCloskey won the European title last November

Former European lightweight champion Charlie Nash believes Paul McCloskey is good enough to land a world title belt.

McCloskey is defending his European light-welterweight title against Italy's Giuseppe Lauri on 11 June and is hoping to land a world title shot.

"I'd like to see him get this fight out of the way and them maybe have one more defence before going in for a world title," said Nash.

"He's more than ready. I'd love to see him in with Amir Khan."

Nash, who won the European title in his native Derry in 1979 and defended the belt before losing a world title challenge against Jim Watt in 1980, has followed McCloskey's career closely.

"John Duddy was with us in the Ring Boxing Club (in Derry) and we used to take him down to Dungiven for sparring with Paul and Eamon O'Kane and they used to return the favour by coming up to us as well.

"Paul was always a quality operator and it was obvious from a young age that he was going to be very, very good.

"He's a very difficult opponent for anyone because firstly he's a southpaw but he's also very hard to hit.

"He has a great left hand, a fantastic right hook and he can punch to the body as well."

Nash is cautioning McCloskey not to underestimate experienced Italian Lauri.

"He's a tough operator who knows the game," adds Nash.

"He's only been beaten by good fighters like Ricky Hatton but I know that Paul will train just as hard for this fight as he did to win the title so I'm sure he can keep a hold of the belt."

Nash believes that McCloskey would have a great chance of defeating Khan if the match could be made.

"We all know that Khan has a lot of defensive problems and I think Paul could have the beating of him.

"The other good champion out there at light-welterweight is American Tim Bradley and I think that Paul could beat him as well."

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