This Saturday sees an absorbing World Light-Welterweight contest held at The Theater, Madison Square Garden when champion, Britain?s Amir Khan makes the second defence of his title against tough, flash, brash native New Yorker, Paulie Malignaggi. I have been a fan of Amir Khan since he impressed in winning a Silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Since then he has been a professional moving up the ranks under the intense glare of the media spotlight. His rise to the World title has not been entirely smooth as his shocking first round knockout loss to dynamite puncher Breidis Prescott illustrates. However, in amassing an impressive overall record of 23 fights 22 wins that one solitary loss to Prescott and with 16 wins coming inside the distance Khan has proven his World class credentials.
Khan has learned from past mistakes, contrary to popular belief he does have a decent chin, coming back from adversity and off the canvas to win in other contests. It is my firm contention that there are two versions of Amir Khan: pre-Prescott and post-Prescott. The pre-Prescott version was a raw precocious talent who had class in spades but did not quite yet know how to apply himself, making mistakes, looking for the knockout always instead of boxing to instruction, suffering with a team that lacked a strong central chief second and overall cohesion.
The Prescott fight was an accident waiting to happen. The post-Prescott Khan that has emerged has a great chief second and trainer in the highly respected and experienced Freddie Roach. Also, he has the best sparring partner a developing World ?class boxer could wish for: Arguably the pound for pound best boxer in the World at present, Filipino dynamo Manny Pacquiao. Since linking with Roach, Khan has tightened his defence fighting from a high guard with his chin tucked in. He bides his time looking for openings and when he sees them explodes with dazzling hand speed landing hurtful combinations, his footwork which so impressed me in the Olympics is back as he circles and dances around his opponents.
When he wants to Khan is able to go flat footed and gut it out when required. There has been almost two crucial years of physical and mental development since the Prescott loss, years where Khan has grown stronger in both departments and years where he has become undoubtedly a World class operator.
Khan is not the first World champion to suffer a knockout loss and he won?t be the last: Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis both suffered devastating knockout defeats on their way up the World ladder and both re-emerged as vastly improved fighters afterwards. Our obsession with a clean record is nothing compared to the power and importance of experience. Boxing is not about being undefeated (although this is a desired status!) it is about reaching your full potential and gaining the respect of your peers and more importantly, self respect.
Khan has beaten an admittedly faded former all time great in Mexico?s Marco Antonio Barrera (on a technical decision in five rounds after Barrera suffered a horrendous cut eye), he then dominated and totally outclassed Andriy Kotelnik of the Ukraine winning the WBA Light-Welterweight title on a landslide points decision last July at the MEN Arena in Manchester. Since then he has made a defence against Dmitriy Salita another New Yorker and then prospect until Khan belted him out in the first round (Salita suffered three knockdowns in this one-sided defeat).
These recent victories and run of form point to one thing: Khan is now a force to be reckoned with. He is not unbeatable and invulnerable but who is? Whoever faces off against the 23 year old from Bolton they will meet a determined, skilful, hard-hitting, fast and accurate boxer-puncher with a tight defence. He has bags of stamina and self confidence having gone the full distance on many occasions. I am not saying he is the finished article yet, but he is pretty close.
None of this will worry Malignaggi of course. The 29 year old New Yorker has faced down Miguel Angel Cotto and Ricky Hatton in previous attempts to lift a version of the World title. In both of these contests he too displayed courage, tenacity, speed of hand and foot, decent defence and a good chin. At the time of the losses both Cotto and Hatton were regarded as among the World?s elite in any weight division so losing to them on points and by eleventh round stoppage is by no means a disgrace, rather they have made Malignaggi the fighter he is today: full of fire and defiance and eager to take his shot.
This is a wonderful test for both men. Whoever emerges as World champion on the 15th has defeated a decent World class opponent and can look forward to lucrative unification contests against rival champions Timothy Bradley (WBO) and Devon Alexander (WBC and IBF). The sky really is the limit. The Light-Welter division has always been the most fearsomely competitive providing the fans with some unforgettable and exciting matches, today is no different. I for one can?t wait to see these unification contests take place with all of the different skills and attributes of the rival champions pitted against each other.
For now we can sit back and enjoy Khan v Malignaggi. My belief is that Malignaggi will perform much as he did in previous title attempts: spirited and spitting defiance to the very last, he may even give Khan a few scares along the way, but ultimately I see the Bolton fighter imposing himself on his older opponent, landing several hurtful combinations designed to slowly but surely break Malignaggi down. The brave US fighter may see the last bell but my gut feeling is that he will be worn down for a late stoppage after acquitting himself well.
For Khan the stakes can?t be higher, promoter Oscar De La Hoya has expressed a lot of enthusiasm for him and invested heavily in him. This is major US exposure for the young champion, crucial if he is to win over fans on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the respect of the boxing aficionados and intelligentsia. He has to win. This I believe he will and then it?s on to attempting to be undisputed champion in his division.
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