As our colleague Ryan Songalia who is embedded in New York and was present at the weigh-ins of the Paulie Malignaggi and Amir Khan recalled, the atmosphere for this fight has turned from sportsmanship into animosity.
The motormouth Malignaggi, who has repeatedly bashed and talked trash against Khan during the lead-up to their fight got into a shoving contest with the Brit Khan during their face-to-face after weighing-in. That was all the provocation Khan’s frenzied army needed to wage war on stage.
Khan shoved Malignaggi after some words were exchanged on stage at the Essex Hotel. Malignaggi retaliated with a kick then after all hell broke lose.
Serious injuries could have easily been suffered by the combatants as several Khan fans got up the stage and causing fighters and members of their team to be swept off the podium.
An enraged Lou di Bella, who promotes Malignaggi, threatened to cancel the fight if any similar breach of security occurs.
This will be the young Brit phenom Khan’s first fight on America soil after signing with Golden Boy promotions and some observers wonder if the pressure and Malignaggi’s antics are finally getting to him.
Malignaggi, who is not facing a law suit from Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach has repeatedly vowed to destroy Khan while calling him a ‘con’ and a ‘fraud’ of a fighter.
Khan has no history of flaring up on his opponents until today’s weigh-ins. Khan who also trains with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao has been reported to have taken offense to Malignaggi’s insinuations that his training mate may be on some performance enhancing stuff.
Khan on his part has vowed to knock out the Brooklyn native Malignaggi. While the sentiment sounds sincere, it may also be exactly what the slick and sly ring tactician Malignaggi wants him to do. Against Juan Diaz in his most recent fights, Malignaggi frustrated the Mexican champ with his ring showmanship and expert generalship.
Check out Songalia’s blow-by-blow below of want went down in the weigh-ins in an interview I conducted with him moments ago:
