WBA World Light-Welterweight Title
16/5/10
Madison Square Garden, New York, US.
Amir Khan dominated in his debut US fight by stopping motor mouth Paulie Malignaggi in the 11th round by TKO.
The fight was somewhat marked in a negative manner before the first bell had even rang, due to a scuffle at the weigh-in. Tempers ran high between both fighters, and their fans, in what seemed a little pathetic. If anything it was all a bit comical and thankfully nothing serious had occurred. Regardless of the handbags, the fighters focussed on the real fight of the match up in the 5,000 sell out Madison Square Garden theatre.
Khan had plenty to prove and Malignaggi looked to be the tricky opponent that could cause an upset early on in Khan's WBA Light-Welterweight Title career. Both fighters looked in good shape as they entered the ring and it was easy to see that both were certainly up for this.
The first round started slowly. Not particularly clean, with clumsy hugging and a few missed shots early on. If anyone did connect with early shots, it certainly was Khan. Malignaggi was clearly not intended to attend purely to make up the numbers, responding well to Khan's attacks. If anything was obvious, it was that explosive speed of Khan's.
The second was evenly matched and could have gone either way on the judge's scorecards. The crowd seemed to be enjoying the prospect of the fight matching this. Khan hit out early on with his jab looking particularly impressive. However, Malignaggi dug in by responding well with a few connections of his own. Malignaggi did show a little piece of poor sportmanship halfway through the round by connecting with the back of Khan's head. This produced a warning from the fight referee. The round continued with each fighter seeming weary of the other.
Khan should have been connecting more, especially when considering the amount of punches thrown. This could have been down to nerves and it seemed obvious that he would eventually settle down into his own rhythm. It wasn't in the third however, as Flyboxing gave Malignaggi his only round. Khan continued to use his jab but Malignaggi countered well. Sections of this round highlighted the great speed that both fighters posses with their hands. Malignaggi was looking for Khan in this round but never seemed to trouble him in any way.
The crowd responded well at the start of the fourth, perhaps realising that this fight could go either way. Chants of 'Paulie' echoed around the theatre to try to spur on the Brooklyn boxer but it didn't work. Khan dominated the round and at one point lifted his arms up to what seemed like an invitation to be hit. Malignaggi kindly obliged before Khan countered excellently with a sweet right uppercut counter. Malignaggi took it well.
Malignaggi's resilience started to show in every round as Khan seemed to land more and more punches predominantly on the American's head.In the fifth Khan started to win the close encounters and Malignaggi even went down at one point, albeit from a push from the Brit. Khan continued to connect and worked his left well, including a particularly impressive body shot.
Malignaggi realised that the rounds were against him and tried to start the sixth positively. Khan put a stop to that with that excellent jab of his. Malignaggi tried to work on his own jab, obviously trying to work on something to wade the Khan tide. He landed a few before Khan's speed proved dominant. It was Khan's round for sure as he started to look the model professional; composed and comfortable.
The story continued in the seventh as Khan's jab dominated Malignaggi's. Towards the end of the round Khan connected a few combinations and he maintained this into the eighth. Malignaggi started to look like he was running out of options. The fight was crying out for the dominance of Khan to cumulate into a knockout. Khan's jab was doing all the hard work but for some reason he could not produce anything of the same quality to exploit the platform it created.
Perhaps Khan started to realise that this fight was looking like it would go the distance. The fight was comfortably his if the twelve rounds completed and this was shown with the ease Khan dealt with whatever little resistance Malignaggi had left. Khan had the opportunity to select his shots and won yet another round. This was a similar story in an uneventful tenth.
Between the tenth and eleventh Malignaggi had the once over from the fight doctor who deemed it safe enough for the twenty-nine year old to continue. Continue he did but without much effect. Khan peppered Malignaggi from the start of the eleventh and connected well and his confidence grew with each flurry thrown. You could sense that Khan wanted the knockout after all. A strong left from Khan rocked Malignaggi, which seemed to only encourage Khan. After connecting more combinations the referee decided to call an end to the fight, with the Bolton lad holding his arms aloft victoriously.
Malignaggi was certainly disappointing in this fight and couldn't back up all the pre-fight talk with a performance. Khan however did. A solid display that allowed Malignaggi nothing. What was impressive in this fight compared to Khan's past bouts was without a doubt that jab of his. It should also be noted that, despite taking a few connections from the soft punching Malignaggi, Khan's defence has improved. It will be interesting to see where Khan goes from here but he can certainly look back on this performance with great pride. It may not have been fight of the year, but to retain his title and to win in the US for the first time so convincingly, he will extremely pleased.
