By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) was practically gushing like a schoolboy about the prospects of fighting former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi at New York’s Madison Square Garden on May 15th. Khan said “Coming to the mecca for my US debut boxing at Madison Square Garden, it’s been my dream. Everybody wants to fight here where Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and everyone have fought. I’ll have my name in the history books.” Oh brother, put a sock in, Khan.

It’s nice that Khan is eager to fight in New York, but that feeling will wear off soon after he steps in the ring and starts getting booed by the crowd. Also, Khan has a tough opponent that’s going to be hitting him all night long with the 29-year-old Malignaggi. Khan won’t be able to count on Malignaggi folding early like his last opponent Dmitri Salita did in losing a 1st round knockout in December.

That wasn’t even a competitive fight going into the bout, because Salita had never even fought a 1st tier light welterweight before that night and had no business being ranked so highly without having fought at least good fighter in the top 15 to see if he was as good as his unbeaten record would have you believe.
Malignaggi says “It’s my city.

When his head’s snapping back with blistering combinations the crowd will love it. That’s the first time in his career he is going to have to deal with that.” Malignaggi doesn’t hit really hard, but with Khan, it may not matter. His chin isn’t the best in the business, so if Malignaggi can tap Khan just right, he may get him out there quick.

Khan will certainly give him a lot of opportunities because Khan will probably be looking to impress by going for a knockout. If Khan plans on becoming hugely popular in the United States like he says he wants to be, he really has little choice but the try and stop Malignaggi to impress the fans. It won’t work for Khan to fight timidly all night long like he did in his fight with Andriy Kotelnik last year in winning the WBA title.

The U.S. fans didn’t see that fight, thank goodness, but if Khan fights like that against Malignaggi, I see it as a waste of a fight for Khan in terms of winning fans. Khan has to be much more aggressive and take fellow British fighter Naseem Hamed as an example of how to fight if he wants to become a famous in the United States. Hamed didn’t have the best chin in boxing, but he did have a lot of power, and he wasn’t afraid to risk being knocked out in order to go for a knockout himself. Khan has to be like this. I don’t think he will, though, and I doubt that his trainer Freddie Roach would let him if he wanted to.

Khan says “I know there’s going to be a lot of pressure on me without the home crowd. But I know the fans are going to start to love me. I don’t only want to win the fight, I want to win with good style.” Khan thinks that the U.S. fans will love him? Well, we’ll see about that. Khan will have to show something to the fans by going after Malignaggi instead of just circling the ring all night long and jabbing.

If he fights like that, the U.S. fans won’t care who he is and will probably see him as another one of the prospect fighters that we often see on free cable. I’ve seen Khan’s fights with Kotelnik, Marco Antonio Barrera, Breidis Prescott, Michael Gomez, among many others, and I’m not impressed with him in the least. But maybe it’s a British thing.

I don’t know. I just see him as a guy with fast hands, a weak chin and a tendency to be matched against soft opposition. There’s nothing for me to be impressed about Khan at this point in time. Now, if Khan’s promoters want to put him in with the likes of Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz, Randall Bailey, Ricardo Torres, Prescott, Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander, then I’ll maybe be impressed, if Khan can beat any of them. I don’t think he can.