Barrera lost the bout by a fifth-round technical decision. In the first round, the two fighters clashed heads, resulting in a deep gash above Barrera's forehead, which bled throughout the bout. Ringside doctors stopped the fight at the beginning of the fifth round due to the severity of the cut. The judges scored the fight 50–45, 50–45 and 50–44 for Khan at the point of stoppage and he was declared the winner by technical decision. However, there was some controversy over the time of the stoppage, as Barrera had sustained the cut during the first round and that it would be constantly examined before the referee officially stopped the fight in the fifth round.