England’s WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Amir Khan, could defend his crown against New York’s Paulie Malignaggi on May 15 at The WaMu Theatre in New York’s Madison Square Garden if talks continue to go successfully, representatives of both fighters told FanHouse on Thursday evening.
“We’re working on Paulie Malignaggi right now,” said matchmaker, Robert Diaz, of Golden Boy Promotions, a notion confirmed by Malignaggi’s promoter, Lou DiBella, not long thereafter.
“That’s a possibility,” said DiBella. “Certainly, we’re in talks.”
The 23-year-old Khan (22-1, 16 knockouts) is coming off of December’s first-round knockout of New York’s Dmitriy Salita (30-1-1, 16 KOs), the former Olympic silver medalist’s fourth straight victory since, himself, being stopped in the first round by Breidis Prescott in September of 2008.
Khan earned his present title with July’s unanimous decision over Andriy Kotelnik.
The slick-boxing, Malignaggi (27-3, five KOs) is coming off of December’s unanimous decision over Juan Diaz, which was a rematch of his disputed loss in August.
Khan-Malignaggi could appear as the main event of a card also featuring 23-year-old southpaw, 140-pound contender, Victor Ortiz (25-2-1, 20 KOs), against former world champ, Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs) — this, assuming Ortiz gets past Hector Alattore (16-8, five KOs), on Feb. 25.
Up until Wednesday, however, Khan’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said that he believed the Englishman was to be facing 36-year-old WBA and WBO lightweight (135 pounds) king, Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs), of Mexico, but apparently, that has changed.
The four bouts would be televised on HBO’s Boxing After Dark series.
Top Rank’s Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard announced
Former WBC super featherweight (130 pounds) champion, Humberto Soto (50-7-2, 32 KOs), a 29-year-old from Tijuana, will put his six-bout, winning streak on the line in pursuit of the vacant WBC lightweight (135 pounds) title against 33-year-old, southpaw David Diaz (35-2-1, 17 KOs) — that belt’s former holder — in a March 13 matchup at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium.
Soto-Diaz is among six undercard bouts that were announced by Top Rank on Thursday that will take place beneath the main event featuring seven-division king, Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) in defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) crown against Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs).
Also included is a welterweight matchup between 36-year-old, former world champion, Jose Luis Castillo (60-9-1, 52 KOs) of Mexicali, against 29-year-old Alfonso Gomez (21-4-2, 10 KOs) of Guadalajara, and a middleweight clash between Ireland’s 30-year-old John Duddy (28-1, 18 KOs) of New York (pictured standing at right) opposite 23-year-old Michael Medina (23-1-2, 18 KOs) of Monterrey, Mex.
Also on the card in seperate, non-televised bouts will be featherweight (126 pounds) Salvador Sanchez (18-3-2, eight KOs) III, of Mexico, the nephew of the former world champion by the same name, and southpaw, 122-pound Robert Marroquin (12-0, nine KOs) of Dallas.
Erik Morales returns to the ring
Former world champion Erik Morales, the last man to defeat Manny Pacquiao, will return to the ring after a more than 32-month absence and four straight losses when he meets 26-year-old, former world champion, Jose Alfaro on March 27 in Monterrey, Mexico.
After winning a unanimous decision over Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts) in March of 2005, Morales (48-6, 34 KOs), lost a decision to Zaheer Rahim, was KO’d in 10, and, three rounds, respectively, by Pacquiao, and suffered a unanimous decision setback to David Diaz on in August of 2007 — Morales’ last time in the ring.
The 33-year-old Morales will face Alfaro (23-5, 20 KOs) for the WBC Intercontinental welterweight crown over 12 rounds.
