Amir Khan makes his Manchester homecoming on Saturday – but we will see if he truly has the X-Factor.

The WBA light-welterweight champion’s clash with Paul McCloskey will no longer be shown live by Sky Sports – and on the night that Britain’s Got Talent returns to our screens, he will have an almighty fight for viewers.

Khan will now see the wisdom of choosing the relatively unknown McCloskey for his first fight in England since 2009. Having made his name across the the pond with stunning wins against Paulie Malignaggi and Marcos Maidana, he may be about to learn that his name alone is not enough to draw the biggest crowds.

From a personal point of view, I think he should have taken an all-Manchester clash with European lightweight champion John Murray.

Yes, he is my fighter – but there is clear history between the two – which was only underlined by Khan’s claims in MEN Sport recently that Murray will never be world class.

John was ready to put his money where his mouth is – but Khan chose not to fight him in what would have been a mouthwatering grudge match at the MEN Arena. But Murray wasn’t the only option for Khan.

Breidis Prescott was desperate for a re-match, having stunned the Bolton ace in their last meeting in 2008.

That was a fight that the public would be only too willing to spend their hard-earned cash on.

Will they do the same for McCloskey? I don’t know.

It was always going to be a hard sell for Khan, who has talked about unifying the light-welterweight division and taking on pound-for-pound great Floyd Mayweather Jr.

McCloskey is hardly in that class.

But what was a hard sell only got harder when the all-Manchester FA Cup semi-final was scheduled on the same day.

Even Ricky Hatton – who is promoting Khan’s homecoming - admitted he was heartbroken to see the two events clash.

Add to that, Khan’s hometown team Bolton Wanderers taking on Stoke in the second semi-final a day later and there is no shortage of competition this weekend.

Then there’s BGT.

You might think I’m joking but there aren’t too many shows that pull in viewing figures like dancing dogs and Susan Boyle.

You can picture the scene.

Hubby has just finished watching United and City in the early evening kick-off on Saturday – next thing you know he’s pulling out the credit card to get Khan on pay-per-view.

How many long-suffering wives are going to say ‘No you don’t – I’m watching Britain’s Got Talent’? That could be a more interesting tussle than Khan v McCloskey.

It has been a show that has suffered with one setback after another.

Losing Matthew Macklin, Anthony Crolla and Scott Quigg from the undercard have all been body blows in terms of generating interest.

And it is disappointing that Manchester’s Olympian Joe Murray hasn’t been given the chance to fight at the home of boxing.

I am sure he will headline a show there one day – but on this occasion it wasn’t to be.

The truth is that both the Murray brothers will be at Wembley on Saturday – but I know I’d rather see them at the MEN.

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