By William Mackay: Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KO’s) says he’s not going to be playing it nice with WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) on May 15th in their title fight at Madison Square Garden. On Malignaggi’s Twitter page, Malignaggi had this to say: “I tried to be Mr. nice guy and respect Amir Khan and his perverted ways. But that is now out the window, like when round four comes and he hasn’t knocked me out.”

Khan, 23, has previously predicted a 4th round knockout victory over Malignaggi. This seems to have angered Malignaggi, because he doesn’t intend on getting knocked out on May 15th and will be looking to pick up another title. From the sounds of it, Malignaggi will be looking to take the fight to Khan after the 4th round to try and show him whose boss. Khan has made no secret to the fact that he sees the Malignaggi bout as a stepping stone to bigger fights in the future in the United States against fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Those are the bouts that Khan is anxiously awaiting in the future if he can keep winning and looking good. The Malignaggi fight was chosen for Khan to cut his teeth in the United States against an opponent that is known by both casual and hardcore boxing fans. Malignaggi doesn’t have much power, and perhaps that’s a good thing because Khan has shown to have a brittle chin in the past. The last thing he would need right now is to face a big puncher and end up flopping around on the canvas like a fish. In an interview with GQ magazine, Khan said “This game’s all about timing. You have to know the best time to have these big fights. I want to catch these guys when they have come off their peak.”

Khan plans on being ready to fight Mayweather and Pacquiao by next year. This would mean that he’s going to have to step it up after he gets by Malignaggi, because it would seem unrealistic for Khan, an unknown fighter in the U.S, to be put in with Mayweather and Pacquiao with his lack of experience. It’s not that Khan hasn’t had a decent about of fights, because he has almost as many fights as Malignaggi, a veteran fighter.

The problem is that only one or two could be considered decent fighters. Khan hasn’t faced any super stars nor any really good fighters like Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander or Marcos Maidana. Those are the fights, you would assume, that Khan would have to beat to get fights with Mayweather and Pacquiao. But Khan could get a chance at one of them anyway even if he doesn’t fight the top light welterweights just based on his popularity back at home in the UK. It would seem off putting to some people if Khan gets a fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao based on wins over Andriy Kotelnik, Dmitri Salita and Malignaggi, but this is boxing and anything is possible.