Amir Khan cruises past Paulie Malignaggi
Amir Khan took a large bite out of the Big Apple on Saturday night with a compressive victory over local boy Paulie Malignaggi in the second defence of his WBA light-welterweight title.
It was one-way traffic in Madison Square Garden for the majority of the bout as Khan wooed the US audience by outpointing crowed favourite Malignaggi. The Lancashire hot-shot put in a solid, composed and mature display to out-box “Magic Man” with slick hands and smooth footwork culminating in an 11th-round TKO.
With a knockout record of five in 31 Malignaggi was a safe pick for the Bolton youngster to showcase his skills in front of a curious American audience without being tested. The crowd would have been impressed with the way the young Englishman controlled the fight and he looked solid and assured on his first professional fight outside Britain.
There is no denying Khan is one of the most exciting boxers on the scene right now, ferociously fast fists have led to Manny Pacquiao comparisons and while the fireworks weren’t exploding out the mitts of “King Khan” on the weekend, he still dominated his opponent showing flashes of speed, power and combinations as he picked off Malignaggi at his leisure. It was an example of how Khan has grown as a boxer and offered an alternative to the one-punch power performance in his victory over Dmitry Salita.
As for Malignaggi there is no denying the New Yorker has plenty of heart and he came out for the first few rounds trying to step up to Khan and pose him some questions. However other than maybe the second round he struggled to find a decent rhythm and lost control of the fight early on.
From the third round onwards the former Olympian began to pull away from Magic Man and didn’t look back. Malignaggi did his best to skip about the ring and his movement caused Khan to throw a few air shots but the champion sat behind his jab calmly and put in a shift.
By the fourth Khan was beginning to open up the local hero. A fierce left-right combo rocked Magic Man whose disappearing act was lacking finesse. He was also caught by an uppercut and an overhand right and by the bell his face had swollen up to resemble an embarrassed obese child.
The New York native was on the canvas in the fifth, although it was ruled a slip. By the sixth he had taken a fair amount from the gloves of Khan and his legs looked wobbly as the end appeared nigh for the man who had only previously been stopped once in his whole career.
Credit to the big-hearted wild-eyed fighter though, he was hanging on by his finger nails, but was still throwing with hope until the eighth, at which point he looked like a man who knew that he was consigned to defeat. Khan had total command coming at the forlorn Malignaggi with his left hand, picking him off, throwing the combinations and just generally keeping busy.
The ring doctor wasn’t convinced by what he was seeing; he and Malignaggi had an argument before the ninth as the doc tried to pull him out. He may as well have let him really because all he got for his enthusiasm was his head snapped back by Khans jab as he ran for two more rounds. Once again Malignaggi's mouth had got him into trouble.
It was goodnight America in the 11th as a red-faced, leggy Malignaggi was put out of his misery, and Khan had his first win in the land of opportunity.
Khan had served up a buffet-dinner performance. He dished out a bit of everything and once he found his rhythm, he showcased his range rather than present one dish. There were splatterings of his explosiveness, he threw a good medley of punches and sat back well behind his jab, picking off Malignaggi. All in all it was a surprisingly tactical fight.
Of course the biggest concern about Khan is his chin. He’s been knocked down four times already in his pro career and there was little chance of that happening on Saturday night as Malignaggi can’t bang. However there was also a marked improvement in his defence and you can see that Freddie Roach has been working hard with him in the gym. He kept his gloves up tight in protection and the leather absorbed a lot impact. This will serve as great practice for the WBA champ because Malignaggi did test him with his quick hands a few times in the earlier rounds and the experience will be helpful for future fights.
Next up for King Khan it looks like it’s going to be the big hitter Marcos Madiana. There was talk that Khan avoided him to fight this bout with Malignaggi, but now it looks like it will be on in the near future. That should answer questions once and for all for about how durable Khan’s chin is and is another step closer to finding out who is the true champ of this red-hot division.
Somewhat surprisingly Khan also talked about having a fight in the UK before the end of July. It would seem unlikely that that would be against Maidana, early suggestions point towards Michael Katsidis but the way he banged out Kevin Mitchell on the weekend it might not be a wise idea and perhaps a domestic hopeful just as a bit of a tune up would be the better option.
A solid composed display by Kahn on his debut in the USA. A little teaser of the future as the exciting, explosive fighter gets a victory in a bout that saw him keep his strap and enhance his international reputation.
It wasn’t so much “Welcome to America, Amir Khan” it was more “Welcome to Amir Khan, America”.
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