Amir Khan vs Paulie Malignaggi Fight: Amir Khan Demolishes Coney Island Fighter Paulie Malignaggi
Amir Khan vs Paulie Malignaggi Highlights: Amir Khan,a British citizen of Pakistani descent, made mincemeat of Paulie Malignaggi at The Theater at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.
Khan had to struggle hard to get his work visa at the last minute to get into the country to fight Paulie Malignaggi and mad full use of the opportunity accorded by beating Malignaggi to pulp before the referee, Steve Smoger, intervened and halted the match at :25 of the 11th round, giving Khan a technical knockout before 4,412 fans.
With this stupendous victory, Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) made a successful and impressive U.S. debut and retained his WBA super lightweight title.
"Me and (trainer) Freddie (Roach) stuck to the game plan. Paulie is a very awkward fighter. We had to break him down slowly," Khan said. "We had to use our brain. I knew in the last few rounds I was hurting him. All I had to do was put the pressure on him.
Malignaggi's dream of facing Manny Pacquiao in a bout would now in all probability remain dream now. Malignaggi had no answers to Khan's superior speed and power. I ran into a clone of myself of when I was younger. But he was faster and stronger," Malignaggi said. "He's bigger and stronger. But I gave it all I had."
When Khan entered the ring, the question on everybody's mind was if Khan was up to the challenge of being an A-level fighter.
Well, he gave sufficient evidence of being so, dominating Malignaggi from the word go. Khan displayed blazingly fast hands, coupled with pinpoint accuracy on his punches. He hit Malignaggi with a lightening fast three-punch combination in the second round. By the third round, Malignaggi's face was profusely swollen and Malignaggi who himself is considered to be a stallion when it comes to speed, could do very little to defend himself against Khan's onslaught of powerful right hand punches.
Khan's mercurial coach, Roach, who had trained Manny Pacquiao from a brawler into a thorough professional, is being credited for his role in Khan's victory.
Manignaggi, to his credit, showed extreme courage, pleading with ringside physician Ostrick King not to stop the fight.
Khan now wants to take on the other 140-pound champions - Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley.
"I'm not going to leave the 140 pound division until I unify the titles," Khan said.
