Khan-Malignaggi: Does Amir win respect if he beats Paulie?
March 11th, 2010
By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan probably has a long ways to go before he’s seen as a premier mega fighter like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Khan may never reach that level for one reason or another. Khan will have to face a lot of tough fighters for him to get to that level, and not be put in with hand-picked soft opponents that are little threat to his fragile chin. Khan will be facing former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi on May 15th, at the Madison Square Garden, in New York. This is seen as a move that will give Khan a chance to show his stuff against an opponent with somewhat of a name on HBO.
I suppose the casual fans might enjoy seeing Khan face weak punchers his entire career, but I don’t know how he can manage to be steered around the light welterweight division to avoid all the good fighters that exist there. At some point, Khan will have to face someone that can actually fight and who has power, but when will that be? Ricky Hatton had a marvelous career and made a ton of money by being put in with guys that he could beat.
Hatton fought a 36-year-old Kostya Tszyu when he was at the end of his career and beat him. That win did a lot for Hatton, and he moved on to beat a handful of other decent fighters before he finally stepped it up against two great fighters – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao – and was destroyed. It doesn’t matter now that he seems to have lost his drive for the sport. He’s already made a ton of money and doesn’t need to fight anymore.
Likewise, Khan has been fed an old Marco Antonio Barrera, 35, and beat him by a 5 round technical decision last year. Khan recently was attempting to fight another older, smaller fighter in Juan Manuel Marquez. However, Marquez didn’t like the looks of things and failed to sign a contract with Khan. Now, Khan is fighting Malignaggi, who technically is a contender but is seen as an opponent by fighters that want a low risk bout.
For Khan to win respect with fans, he’s going to have to face and beat the following fighters:
Marco Maidana
Timothy Bradley
Devon Alexander
Victor Ortiz
Kendall Holt
Ricardo Torres
Juan Urango
Victor Cayo
Lamont Peterson
I would have a lot of respect for Khan if he immediately started facing these fighters one after another once he gets by Malignaggi in May. But do I think Khan will fight those guys? No. Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach recently said that he would have to get a wheelbarrow full of money to fight Bradley, because he sees that as really tough fight for Khan. I agree.
I would be a tough fight for Khan to take, but he’s the one that wants to be a mega star like Pacquiao and Mayweather. If Khan just wants to be a guy that is known for having a Silver Medal in the 2004 Olympics, and who won the WBA light welterweight title against an opponent that many boxing fans feel was the weakest of the existing light welterweight champions available at the time that Khan, then that’s fine. But I think Khan might want to be more than that, at least I think he does.
I wish I could say that Khan’s management will let him fight any of the above fighters, because I think that would be a big step in the right direction for Khan in moving him in the direction of potentially becoming a star. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Khan will be put anywhere near those fighters for the time being. I think once Khan gets by Malignaggi, they’ll go after another old guy, someone like Nate Campbell. In fact, I’m almost certain that’s who they’ll go after next. Campbell has fought at lightweight until recently, and didn’t look good in his one fight at light welterweight.
Tags: 47 Responses to “Khan-Malignaggi: Does Amir win respect if he beats Paulie?”
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MALIGNAGGI WILL WIN ON POINTS !!!!!
SMASH THE GLASS JAW PAULIE !!!
boxing is a tough sport, anyone that takes up the sport at pro level deserves respect. like any fight fan i have my oppinions on khan. he is a young guy just getting started over in the states.yeah sure he may have been chinned but this is a new scene and with freddie coaching, who knows?
trying to make it big in the era of mayweather jr and pacman is going to be an uphill struggle for any boxer and even tougher if your chin is suspect. the best of luck to khan and paulie
Paulie will win a majority decision…not that Kahn isn’t a good fighter, Paulie is quicker and has been around good competition…..Paulie is on a roll too.
Notice the silence from “nick winner”.
Everyone has a big mouth until someone says to put money where there.
No confidence.
Nick give me your email address pal if you wanna do this !!!!!!!!!!!
you called me out son not me.
Notice the silence from “anonymous”.
Everyone has a big mouth until someone says to put money where there.
No confidence.
Khanwill have to fight and beat Maidana and Bradley to earn respect. Paulie will get beat by Khan, Maidana and Bradley easily. He is at best a B-level fighter with a mouth of a certain Floyd Mayweather Jr. but far, far inferior talents.
Gilfoid. Didn’t you say Khan would be brutally Ko’d by Salita??What a clown u r!
James Mc- They’ve both beat better opposition than Khan, neither has been flattened like Khan was, and neither seem to be running from anybody like Khan does.
That says it all for me.
Anonymous- Seriously now, khan is a chinny ducker paper champ coward. Malignaggi will UD him. And the bubble will burst. And il probably die of laughter
Khan by majority decision.
@oli-you need to stop overrating bradley and devon,none of there chins have been tested by a huge hitter eaither,i think bradley is a very gd alround boxer,but i think he may have a questionable chin if the relativly light hitting holt can put him down twice,as for alexander he hasnt faught any half decant fighters,a well past it witter and a b class fighter in urango,i admit i was hugley impressed with him win the fight by ko,i thaught he would win but no means did i think he would win by ko.but in my eyes its far to soon in there carears yet to know how good they are.
@Nick Winner…..You couldn’t have said it better……Paulie by decision, or late round TKD……
@anonymous
Literally let me know if you want to make a real bet on that. Paulie will last more than 6 rounds with EASE.
I will put any amount you want on that.
@ oli
why make out lamont is something speacial he clearly isnt you must just look at a fighters record ohhh he has no losses he must be awesome !!!!! the same goes for salita thats why i see the simalarity like nate = barrera win for khan !!!
You pump bradley into something he isnt saying hes ducked nobody but clearly ducked devon and now zab is mentioned bradley all of a sudden wants devon !! he is the same as khan just better at convincing people he aint ducking !!!!
one thing is for sure when khan does fight bradley your man is going down !! just like paulie is !! i bet you said paulie would outbox hatton look what happened.
Amir will have paulies team throwin the towel in inside 6 rounds paulie is tailor made for khan ! you can hold me to that oli !! I will hold my hand up if im wrong or even if khan wins by ud !
@fan
Your a bit of a tool aren’t you mate every fighter matures at different rates take a look at the likes of Manny Pacquaio and Bernard Hopkins they both improved a lot more later on in their careers
Paulie is a great fighter, I will not be suprised if he wins the fight on UD.
If Khan beats Malignaggi, it will all demand on the manner in which he does it. I will be very disappointed to see a first round KO, or Malignaggi getting cut in the first round.
I hope Malignaggi will be up for the fight because I want to see if Khan really has any skills. In my opinion, Malignaggi was always the right opponent for Khan, and I am glad they picked him.
The only thing I can hope for is that the fight goes the distance.
@anonymous- Why you persist in likening lamont peterson to Salita is a mystery to anyone who actually knows boxing. Peterson is a FAR higher calibre of fighter than salita. Salita works in mcdonalds, why do you think khan agreed to fight him.
Amir khan is a fraud and a coward, Bradley and devon are the front runners in this division, both will knock khan in to the middle of next week.
Malignaggi put lovemore ndou on his pocket, thats more than enough power to make Khan do the chicken dance.
Paulie UD or even a side splittingly funny KO
@roach
What do you want? Hatton to come to your door and shake your hand?
You’re not the only one with twisted logic.
People don’t need to be discrediting either of these boxers.
Khan has a chance to make a name for himself (although he wont), and Malignaggi is continuing to grow his name.
He “Lost” the two of his last four fights. Let’s bring those up for a second.
Hatton Loss. Yes, he was getting beaten, but he was surviving against a BRAWLER and wanted to go all 12 rounds. He has a bad trainer at the time and has made STRIDES since then.
Diaz Loss. DIAZ? Come On. He got robbed the first time and proved it the second time. I was at the second fight in Chicago. It was AWESOME. We were a few of the very limited Pro-Paulie fans and we brought that place down with noise.
He was a much MUCH better fighter than Diaz.
I say Malignaggi by decision.
Amir Khan needs to get his debut fight out of the way. He has won the world title, Defended his title, Moved to the United states and chosen to fight Malignaggi who has faught some good fighters.
After Malignaggi, Khan should fight Maidana his mandatory, Ortiz and Juan Diaz. I think the fight with Juan Diaz should be a Vegas fight. It will be the biggest test of Amir, Juan Diaz is a big hitter like Maidana.
If Khan beats Malignaggi, Maidana, Ortiz and Juan Diaz, He will be well on way to superstar status.
@anish-u say khan glass jaw isnt that bad?willie limond is 1 of the lightest hitting fighter around and if khan didnt get a 20 sec count,he would have ko’d khan.limond had khan baddly hurt,drillzan had khan baddly hurt,gomez had khan baddly hurt and prescott almost decapated khan with a jab.so if you dont call that chin problems i dont know what is.i realy wouldn,t be suprised if malignagie scores a shock ko win as he definatley hits hard than limond and look what happened there.
@Gohar
Its funny how A mere Con fans keep using his age of being 23 years old as an excuse to avoid fighting the best of his own division. Devon Alexander is 22 years old. He still fought Juan Urango. Meanwhile A mere Con hides from Marcos Maidana like the coward he is. A mere Con only wants to further his over hyped career by fighting shot, small, aging boxing legends with his cheating headbutt tactics like the fraud he is.
@
A mere Con is a fraud and a coward
lamont peterson=salita you joker!!!!
overhyped to say the least hes like bradley couldnt knock the top of an egg at least when khan fought salita he won convincingly.
TIM needs the judges everyfight !!!!!!
khan will expose bradley so will devon !
@Eric
Exposed? Really Eric? Exposed? How was Juan Diaz exposed by Paulie Malignaggi? Juan Diaz already had two loses at that time.
A mere Con may be an over hyped fighter but he is not one dimensional like Juan Diaz. Let me also point out that Paulie Malignaggi has no power to expose A mere Con’s glass chin. If Paulie Malignaggi had power, Freddie Roach would protect A mere Con from Paulie Mallignaggi. Sorry but your hero is just a stepping stone in this fight.
People need to undetstand Khan is only 23.Give me an exmaple of another great boxer who took a different approach at this age??
Its funny how the author of this article is assuming he wil get past Malignaggi and move on, also that Khan is “faster” than Malignaggi? I’m predicting that Khan gets a boxing lesson from Mags..and gets exposed..just like Juan Diaz…
Khan has a lot of haters. He and Roach are doing something right. Pauli is a good match up for Khan.
Money Talks!! Love him or hate him but people still watch him! I believe he is the most popular in 140 atm which means more money for him and who ever he fights! After all his not fighting for free its work for him when he has enough money then he might be more tempted to fight the best. If Other 140 were as popular then I believe he would have gone for them!!
I agree that A mere Con should fight these fighters if wants resprect.
Marco Maidana
Timothy Bradley
Devon Alexander
Kendall Holt
Ricardo Torres
Juan Urango
Victor Cayo
Lamont Peterson
I would also like to add Kaizer Mabuza and Edwin Valero to the list.
I also think that Victor Ortiz. Just like A mere Con is over hyped. Victor Ortiz is over hyped as well. Unlike A mere Con however, Victor Ortiz appears to be shot fighter after what Marcos Maidana did to him. So we can all just forget about Victor Ortiz now.
At this stage of Khan’s career, he is making all the right moves. Why would he fight any of these other guys listed when they’re a smaller draw than Malignaggi. There will come a time when Khan will face these big punchers and showcase his talents. I’m confident he can dismantal almost any fighter in this division. Also this talk about his glass jaw is massively overrated. I think I’ve only ever seen him hurt twice in his entire career and once in which he was in actual danger (prescott fight).
If Khan handle him with ease then he has turn the corner!!Paulie for me is a slick fighter and has fought far better opponent then khan has and what paulie lacks in punching power he make ups for with good boxing skills,my problem with Amir Khan is in all the year i’ve have been watching boxing and i’m talking Ali days, i have never seen such an over hype show like Khan in my life!!!!!!!!!!end of
I was very critic of Khan all the time but giving it a secong thought i have to say that Khan is taking the right way, first take the belt, then fight 1 to 3 not so hard (not so easy either) and then get to fight the big guns, i think with 23 he can relax and learn the champion job for a year and then fight the mentioned, the problem is the world moves too quickly and people want great fights really quick and that isnt how it works sometimes.
It wasn’t long ago alot of americans were predicting Malignaggi’s boxing skills to be too slick for Ricky Hatton and for him to widely UD him.
As soon as Khan is involved, everyone loves to hate.
Just because Malignaggi is not a knockout artist, does not mean he isn’t a good boxer, which he is, and provides Khan with his stiffest test to date because he is fighting someone with comparable boxing skills.
I think everybody is forgetting how old Amir Khan is the guy is only 22 years, what’s the rush with putting him in with the best fighters in his weight he’s still only a baby
In a perfect World money wouldn’t matter, but it isn’t and Golden boy will want make their moneys worth off Khan. I can only hope, that after Khan knocks out Malignaggi, he takes on Maidana instead of fighting Campbell. Although that fight could happen, I thought Ortiz was supposed to be facing Campbell.
Whoever believes that Khan would recieve as low as 30% in those fights, is majorly mistaken. Khan and Hatton are the cash-cows of the division, and could demand more money from just about anyone on that list (perhaps with the exception of Bradley). Khan has more paying fans, from either PPV or the live audience, and can therefore have more say in the negotiations. It’s just that, Khan isn’t ready for the likes of Bradley or Alexander yet, but I believe he could quite comfortably out-box Maidana (if he stays on the outside).
Amir Khan is the most protected fighter in the world.
Who knows how long the ducking will go on for…could be years
only thing scry bout this is the fact u had two ask the question …will khan get respect if he beats paul..lol.. a boy with a big mouth that cant punch and has wet dreams of fightin like mayweather ./ paul cant b floyd / b ur self paul/ khan had hes chance two show he is wat hes sayin he hes /world class fighter.?./ not imo/ even freddie said khan should not fight an would b better givein hes belt up…<———world class ….
hatton is a psy and is scared of khan i am white and i hate hatton as i have backed him all the why i spend over £2000 on ricky and he dosent care.
the thing with khan is he trains hard for his fans, when prescott knocked him out he tried his best to get back up where as hatton stayed on the floor againds floyd and manny
Khan said he wants to fight Bradley by the end of the year. I do not knw about you but Bradley and Alexander are perhaps currently the best jr welterweight boxers. If he is going to fight them he must fight more difficult boxers and he is doing that. I would recommend after paulie he fights marcos madaina/victor cayo. After this fight then bradley. Right now bradley is a hairslength of a better fighter.
Stop defaming Khan. His skills is still un-tested in the United States. He can easily dominate most of these elite boxers. Khans got natural boxing skills. His speed kills. His power punches are underated. He can knock anyone out at anytime. You fools keep adding that he needs to fight top notch fighters to earn your respects. Khan’s no newb who’s just walked onto the scene. He understands the sport.
And Boxing is a business. If he fights any big name figher right now he wont get paid as much. Probably a 30%-70% pay ratio. Khan wants to test the waters to build up his name then fight the elites in order to get the big pay day. Right now Khan is ready and capiable of beating any light welter weight thrown at him. He doesn’t need to earn your respect. You should know that Khans already dangerous!
bruno money shouldnt matter histroy immortality being the undisputed no1 in his weight boxing books magazines sponsorships be the best the money will come yet another excuse do you not think he could retire now comfortably no reason with the handling hes had he should fight alexander not the finacial clout less fights and younger than khan what we saying devon given the guidence and traing as khan this guy would be superman right you are looking at it wrong
if he blows him away in 4 yes if not sorry its a big fat no from me
I think it is a bit more complicated than saying fight Bradley or fight Alexander. The money has to be worth the risk and for that reason Khan has to step up bit by bit. I mean it is easy for Bradley to say i will fight Khan but i want 90% of the money. So it is a lot more complicated than the picture Scott paints. Of course Khan’s management want him to earn the most money that is what they are paid for.
why holt and urango?they where both just recantly stopped in there last fights,to win my respect khan has to fight maidana,torres,ortiz or even rematch prescott to prove he can fight a big puncher.but that wont happen,i also see khan struggling realy baddly agianst malignagie as malignagie seems to be back to his best since switching trainers,and we al seen how a prime malignagie almost scored a major upset over a prime cotto.prediction-khan by questionable decision.
Not really, Paulie is feather fisted and everybody knows this so he’s perfect for Khan. Khan is also quicker than Malignaggi so it’s a simple bit of matchmaking. The only thing that is in Paulie’s favour is the fact theat it’s in New York.
Hmm. Baffled at your logic. You want him to fight ALL of them ONE AFTER ANOTHER?
Where in history of boxing has a boxer ever fought the top 5 or 10 straight on-one after another????
4get Kendall Holt what about his recent conqueror Kaizer Mabuza, let the young South African get his shine…