Rising junior welterweight star Amir Khan, retained his WBA title with a surprisingly easy eleventh round TKO of former champ Paulie Malignaggi in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Khan, the 2004 British Olympic silver medalist, outboxed Malignaggi in every round until referee Steve Smoger mercifully decided the always game Malignaggi had taken enough punishment and waved off the bout midway through round eleven. This marked Khan's first fight in the U.S. His next may be against mandatory challenger Marcos Maidana, who - unlike Malignaggi - would undoubtedly test Khan's somewhat questionable chin. It will interesting to see if trainer Freddie Roach and Khan's promoters feel the 23-year-old is ready for that test.
On the undercard, junior welterweight contender Victor Ortiz, 23, outpointed former champ Nate Campbell over ten one-sided rounds. A Campbell slip in round one was ruled a knockdown but it didn't matter on the scorecards as Ortiz won 100-89, 100-89 and 99-90. At 38, Campbell no longer appears to have what it takes to compete at a world class level.
Comments
Khan is better than Malignaggi based on quickness and power. The Magic Man cannot see the jabs and the combinations that Khan put on him. Khan is superb in this fight and heading for a showdown against Marcos Maidana, who is more of a formidable oppenent than Malignaggi.
Victor Ortiz is good for boxing! He looked good against Campbell – who did look like an old fighter. Nonetheless, I hope we see more of Ortiz at the highest level. He’s got good pop. Is it possible to build speed? I think he can get better in his boxing, his footwork, his savy… but is it possible to build speed? If so – I think he’s the rising star. He’s a TV dream.
Despite being so one-sided, the two fights were very interesting if only because both Khan and Ortiz were so much better than their opponents. Natre Campbell looked very old and clearly is at the end of a very good career. I really hope he reitres and does no go on. It would be bad for him and bad for the sport if he continued to fight and absorbed more punishment than needed.
I was very surprised that Khan was so much better than Pauli. Pauli ust does not have the power to be effective against a good boxer-puncher like Khan, especially because Khan is not just fast, he is accurate. Here too Pauli is a a career crossroad. He is a great boxer, far better than usually recognized. He just has no punch to be really effective against the top tier. He is still young and should remain in the top 10 or top 15 for several years, but it is not likely that he is effective enough to be champion again. The question for him is either to call it a career or keep fighting but lower level opponents with smaller paychecks.