Wednesday 17 March 2010

Crowd will love to see Khan suffer, warns Malignaggi -- BBC Sport

BBC Sport

Paul Malignaggi has promised Amir Khan a rude awakening when he challenges the Briton for his WBA light-welterweight title in New York on 15 May.

Khan says he is thrilled at the thought of fighting at Madison Square Garden, but New Yorker Malignaggi says it will be a painful experience for the Briton.

"It's my city. When his head's snapping back with blistering combinations the crowd will love it," said Malignaggi.

"That's the first time in his career he is going to have to deal with that."

The 23-year-old Khan is being accompanied on his promotional trip to America by Naseem Hamed, who beat New Yorker Kevin Kelley at the same venue in 1997, with the young Malignaggi sitting in the crowd watching.

And Khan said he hoped to win in style in a similar fashion to the way Hamed did.

"I know there's going to be a lot of pressure on me without the home crowd," Khan said.

"But I know the fans are going to start to love me. I don't only want to win the fight, I want to win with good style."

After winning a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics at the age of 17, Khan took the WBA crown last July by unanimous decision over Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik.

And in his first title defence Khan knocked out American Dmitriy Salita last December.

The 29-year-old Malignaggi is a former IBF champion who was stopped by Ricky Hatton in round 11 in November 2008.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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