By Peter Wells: Last night at Madison Square Garden, New York, two Junior Welterweights won their fights as expected, but it was the co-feature that was a 10 rounder that seemed the most exciting. That contest was between young Golden Boy hotshot Victor Ortiz and tough veteran Nate Campbell. I may have criticised Ortiz too much in my preview, I believed he would fight a boring style, and said that he wasn’t going to hit the big time. After about 3 rounds my opinion had totally changed, he fought brilliantly all fight on the back foot.

But let’s head to the main event, where Amir Khan as expected slowly but surely stopped Paulie Malignaggi. No matter how much the ‘Magic Man’ talked there wasn’t any chance of him keeping his promise. I only gave Paulie the 3rd round and you could argue that he won the 2nd. It started as I pretty much expected with Amir using his jab while Malignaggi bounced around looking to land flashy punches to catch the judge’s eyes. Also Malignaggi once again had no guard, instead decided to mimic Floyd Mayweather, only he hasn’t perfected it like the unbeaten superstar yet, and never will. Amir stuck to the game plan very well, which Freddie Roach revealed after was to beat him with his jab all night long, and in the 11th he told Khan to take him out – and he duly delivered.

Malignaggi looked a beaten man, almost identical – apart from the new fancy shorts – to his one-sided 11th round stoppage defeat to Ricky Hatton. His face was cut and bruised, while Amir just came out with a nick over his left eye and a bit of swelling round his right. You have to give it to Paulie though, he has great heart and never gives in. he broke his cheek bone against Miguel Cotto and still lasted the full 12, and like the Hatton fight it was down to someone else to pull him out. Last time it was former trainer Buddy McGirt this time the referee.

Khan proved very accurate with his straight punches but when he got going he still has the tendency to slap and hasn’t got the greatest accuracy. He still has plenty of time to improve and at 23 and under the guidance of Roach, then he should fix those weaknesses. Khan did take a few too many punches but as he said after the fight, “if you go in the water, your gonna get wet. So if you get in the ring your gonna get punched”. Khan boxed well but apart from Khan landing those big punches it was hard to get into, mainly it was Malignaggi’s fault who refused to engage. Still he set his debut in the US with a nice victory against a decent opponent.

Back to Ortiz who floored Nate Campbell at the end of round 1, he seemed to push Campbell to the ground but the referee gave it a knockdown which didn’t make any difference to the outcome. Campbell looked like an old man in there and Victor looked better than ever. His defence has improved and didn’t seem fazed when he was caught flush – which was very rare. He isn’t a fighter anymore, he’s a boxer and he looks ready for a bigger test now. I’m sure in the near future he will be back for revenge against his last conqueror Marcos Maidana.

Campbell will surely be looking to retirement now, he had a great career especially at Lightweight but at 38 it’s time to call it a day. Malignaggi is still a good competitor and a great test for any young fighter, but he won’t be seeing chances like that again, the likes of Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander aren’t going to look for a fight with him. I hope though he doesn’t carry on and take too many punches, he doesn’t need to suffer serious damage.

As for our new stars, the big fights are waiting for them now, Khan is very interested in his mandatory challenger and banger Maidana and also wants Bradley and Alexander in the future. Ortiz may want one more warm up fight against Juan Urango or Lamont Peterson before fighting the elite of 140lbs. At the moment I see Alexander as the top dog, and I believe he could beat both Khan and Ortiz, but time will tell. Another possibility is that Khan and Ortiz will meet soon, they are both with Golden Boy Promotions, but I doubt Golden Boy would put two of there best prospects in the ring with each other just yet, another big defeat this soon for either fighter could be a lethal blow.