By Steven Wain: On May 15th 2010 in Madison Square Garden, New York, United States, two fighters that have had their ups and downs will fight it out for the WBA light welterweight championship of the world, which is currently held by champion Amir Khan (22-1 16KO’s).

Amir Khan who is trained by legendary trainer Freddie Roach won the WBA belt when he beat then champion Andriy Kotelnik in 2009 by a wide unanimous decision, Khan then successfully defended it when he destroyed former unbeaten Dmitriy Salita in 76 seconds in an encounter dubbed Muslim VS Jew for their respected faiths.

Khans career has not been all merry merry, in 2008 Khan was given the first loss of his professional career by hard hitting Breidis Prescott in one of the most destructive fights of 2008 were Khan was stopped in 54 seconds after being badly demolished, from then on Khan changed his career around, dropped his trainer Jorge Rubio and started relations with Freddie Roach.

Since having Roach has his trainer Khan has become a world champion and won all four fights against;

* Oisin Fagan – TKO 2
* Marco Antonio Barrera TD 5
* Andriy Kotelnik – UD (WBA title fight)
* Dmitriy Salita – TKO 74 seconds (WBA title fight)

Khan’s challenger is former;

* WBC International light welterweight champion;
* WBC Continental Americas light welterweight champion,
* IBF light welterweight champion

Current WBO NABO light welterweight champion as well as former challenger to the International Boxing Organization light welterweight and WBO light welterweight titles. He is the man they call “Magic Man” Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, 5KO’s)

Malignaggi’s career started of like a dream; in his 20th fight he won the WBC International light welterweight title beating Sandro Casamonica by TD in the 7th round, two fights later in 2006 Paulie won the WBC Continental Americas light welterweight title this time beating Donald Camarena by a 10 round unanimous decision.

Exactly 4 months later Paulie’s world got sent upside down when he received his first loss to former undefeated champion Miguel Cotto when challenging for the WBO light welterweight title, in this fight Malignaggi was floored in round two and was even suspected to have broken his jaw and nose, in the end Cotto won a reasonably comfortable unanimous decision.

Malignaggi then had another four fights, including winning the IBF light welterweight title and two successful defendings. He then took another step up in class when he challenged legendary boxer and former two time pound for pound challenger Ricky Hatton for the International Boxing Organization light welterweight title, from the second round on it was clear Hatton was two strong for Malignaggi, that being proven in the 11th round when Malignaggi’s (former) trainer Buddy McGirt throw in the towel handing Malignaggi his second loss and the first time being stopped.

In 2009 Paulie fought Juan Diaz for the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title in which Paulie lost one of the most controversial fights in boxing history most people had Malignaggi winning, however Gale E. Van Hoy, Raul Caiz and David Sutherland the three judges for the fight saw differently and handed Diaz a unanimous decision victory and in turn Malignaggi’s third professional loss, Malignaggi did however get his revenge in a rematch when he set the record straight this time he was the victor against Diaz by unanimous decision.

Weighting both fighters up we have:-

* Speed – Khan
* Chin – Malignaggi
* Skills – Malignaggi/ Khan
* Agility – Khan
* Power – Khan
* Movement/footwork – Malignaggi /Khan
* Experience – Malignaggi

Above is what I think are the advantages for each boxer and of course one more for Malignaggi and that is home support.

Both fighters have a lot to lose and gain from this fight, if Khan wins then it opens up a chance for bigger fights against fighters such as Timothy Bradley, Nate Campbell, Devon Alexander and even Floyd Mayweather, with Roach still in his corner, if however Khan was to lose then the odds are he will have to rebuild his career over again which could be impossible a second time and Roach will most likely drop him as his fighter. Malignaggi is in the same boat if he wins then once again his career is back on top and he will once again be a world champion however if he loses this would properly be his last opportunity at the top and it could even be the end of his career.

So this really is a career ending fight for the loser and who will that be? Personally I believe it will be Malignaggi as Khan will be to strong for him; however I hope Malignaggi career does carry on if he loses but I can’t see this happening.