By Jim Dower: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) thinks he has the hand speed and the power to take out his opponent Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KO’s) when they face each other on May 15th at Madison Square Garden, in New York. In an article at the Vancouver Sun, Khan says “We’ve got a game plan me and Freddie [Roach, his trainer] have been working on. We’ve got a plan A and a Plan B and if Plan A doesn’t work, then Plan B is going to work. Paulie is quite awkward and he can get a fighter quite frustrated. I’ve got the speed and the power to stop him. We just have to stick to the game plan.”

Khan is counting on being able to take the 29-year-old Malignaggi out in order to look good in front of the Madison Square Garden fans and the HBO audience that tunes in to watch his fight against Malignaggi. Khan wants to become a successful fighter in the United States so that he can carve out a new niche. Khan is already hugely popular in the UK, where he comes from and has fought the vast majority of his 23 fights.

Hitting it big in the U.S. will take more work from Khan that what he’s shown so far against the opposition that has been put in with him. Khan needs to start facing better fighters real soon if he wants to be taken seriously as a fighter. He’s gotten through 23 fights in his career without any real notable wins, unless you count his five round technical decision against 35-year-old Marco Antonio Barrera as a notable win.

Khan is now in Vancouver after being forced to leave the country after his work visa was denied. He’s since reapplied from Canada and will be getting the work permit this Wednesday. This will allow Khan to go back to the Los Angeles Wild Card gym belonging to Roach so that he can finish his training for the Malignaggi bout.

Khan wants to be a big star like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Khan will have to start performing like them by beating his opponents with ease. Khan looked good against Dmitri Salita, his mandatory challenger, stopping him in the 1st. But Khan will have to prove that he has the chin to stand in with the better fighters. Roach has turned Khan into a mover to protect Khan’s chin. However, Khan still gets hit regardless of how much he moves. He took some hard shots in beating Andriy Kotelnik last year in July. Khan ended up winning the fight by a lopsided 12 round decision.