Amir Khan on Paulie Malignaggi: The Animosity Was Real -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

NEW YORK -- Boxing may have had its share of hyped-up, promotional stunts at weigh-ins, but if you ask WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Amir Khan, Friday night's near-brawl with challenger, Paulie Malignaggi, was not one of them.

On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater, the 23-year-old Khan battered his rival relentlessly to improve to 23-1, by scoring his 17th knockout in the 11th round over the 29-year-old Malignaggi (27-4, five KOs).

Nearly 24 hours earlier, however, the fighters nearly came to blows at the pre-fight weigh-in.

"It's part of boxing, you know. But to be honest with you, none of that was fake. It was real, everything that happened between me and Paulie Malignaggi," said Khan, during a ringside interview at the WaMu Theater after the fight.

"I'm a very calm person, and you remember at the weigh-in, when he kept pushing his head into mine," said Khan. "Overall, he was very disrespectful at the weigh-in."

While the fighters stood, nose-to-nose, words were exchanged before Khan shoved Malgnaggi, and all chaos broke loose before order was restored after about two minutes.

"You never know, he could have slipped and bopped me in the nose," said Khan, who completed his debut in the United States. "It could have cut me if someone else had pushed me from behind."

Fortunately, neither fighter was harmed during the fracas, which Khan later chalked up to what he believed was part of the American boxing culture.

"You know, this is hype in America. When I was watching the news later on in the day, I saw that a lot of people were talking about the weigh-in. It just seems like American fighters love to do that," said Khan.

"I respect Paulie, and he's a great fighter. After the fight, he apologized for everything. He told me, 'mentally, I wanted to break you down, but you're a strong fighter, mentally,'" said Khan. "And the same goes for him. I think that he's a mentally strong fighter. I'm just happy that we both didn't have a fight outside of the boxing ring in the end."

Khan's trainer, Freddie Roach, echoed his assertion of Malignaggi, who "said after the fight that there were no hard feelings, and that he respected Amir Khan."

"Paulie told me, 'Freddie, I love you, and you're a great trainer. I still think that Manny Pacquiao is on steroids, but that's him, and that's not on you,'" said Roach. "He said, 'I respect you,' and I said, 'You fought a helluva a fight,' and I left the rest of it alone."

Overall, Khan said that he is has benefitted from the experience.

"It will just make me a better fighter, and at least, now, when I come to America, I know what to expect," said Khan. "This was my first fight here, and the next time I come here, Amir Khan is going to be even better."

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com

Blueprint for Mayweather-Pacquiao: Begins, ends with dropping lawsuits -- Examiner

By Michael Marley, Examiner.com

They need to tango. They need to fandango.

So let's get ready to rhumba.

What the heck is fandango, anyway?

I speak of Messrs. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. and Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, of course.

The public will now accept no substitutes, no Antonio Margarito for Pacman and no Sergio Martinez for Money May.

This sizzling fight, the supreme slugger against the master boxer, is like a well marbled steak with flames surrounding it.

Anecdotal Evidence #1: As I came through customs at Newark Airport, after my sojourn to the Philippines, I handed by landing card to a young, African American customs inspector. He noticed my Pacquiao tee-shirt, bought for cash money at the Gesanio Mall in Gensan.

I guessed he'd make a crack about Pac, that he would say say something about Manny's needle phobia, his reluctance to accept totally random drug testing.

I guessed wrong as is so often the case with stereotypical thinking.

Who wins the fight, this fellow asked.

I said Pacquiao and he said, "He will, if they fight...if Mayweather stops ducking him!"

Anecdotal Evidence #3: Bellying up to the bar at Hurley's Saloon, the white bartender and two white customers were talking up The Only Fight That Matters. The mixologist backed Pacman as did one customer. That guy's boozing buddy was a Flomo, a follower of Mayweather.

Like the customs guy, this trio was 30ish in age.

I checked in with in the know AOL Fan House fight scribe Lem "The Baltimore Gem" Satterfield and his reading of the public pulse is identical to mine.

"I'm personally tired of the back and forth, the blood testing and all the he said, he said," Satterfield said. "You go to the barber shops, the gorcery stores...people don't know close the deal was to getting done (in January) but they don't want to hear about Olympic style testing or anything else, they only want to know what the fight date is. Blood tests, all that other stuff, just turns people off, really."

The public appetite is stronger, the time is now, the fight date should be this fall so we really have a November To Remember.

They know that loose lips sunk this ocean liner once before.

The less we all hear from Uncle Bob, Cousin Richie Rich, Laughing Lenny...the better.

The theme song for these suits is "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show." May I remind them no is going to the MGM Grand or to Cowboys Stadium to see them or hear them pontificate and prevaricate.

The firm hand of HBO paymaster Ross Greenburg, worthy keeper of the boxing exchequer, is there to right the ship if need be.

The G Man must play the concerned but stern daddy role and he is.

My next column will detail "The Blueprint" to make this bout an almost done deal but I'll give you a teaser, a lagniappe as we say in Nawlins, to titilate you, to whet your fist appetite.

MICHAEL MARLEY'S MASTER BLUEPRINT TO PUTTING MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO INTO SIGNABLE CONTRACT FORM:

1. The money split doesn't look as contentious or as likely a dealbreaker as you might think. Both sides know the money pool is nearly bottomless. The alpha, the omega to this deal is to call off the legal beagles, for everyone involved as either plaintiff or defendant (that means you Manny and you Coach Roach) to take your lawsuits and throw them into File 13.

How to get this mutually agreed to?

Simple, really, you make it the first discussed but last memorialized (written in legalese) point.

There should be no heavy debate on this considering that if no fight deal is made, readied for Manny and Floyd's respective John Hancocks, the lawsuits will continue at their turtle pace.

Only rocky shoals I see here is the Pacquiao side demanding an apology on the drug allegations.

How hard is that?

It's a two paragaph press release stipulated to and sent out by both sides, it's no Biggie, Smalls.

Checking your ego at the public door is not so tough when you see a $40 million purse awaiting both superstars, now is it?

When I return, the rest of the story...

READER'S REWARD: You came this far, you deserve it. Here's Wikipedia on fandango:

Fandango is a lively folk and Andalusian (flamenco) couple-dance usually in triple metre, traditionally accompanied by guitars and castanets or hand-clapping (palmas in Spanish and Portuguese). Fandango can both be sung and danced. The sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has an instrumental introduction followed by "variaciones". Sung fandango usually follows the structure of "cante" that consist of four or five octosyllabic verses (coplas) or musical phrases (tercios). Occasionally the first copla is repeated.

The metre of fandango is similar to that of the bolero and seguidilla. It was originally notated in 6/8 time, but later in 3/8 or 3/4.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: examiner.com

Amir Khan's victory against Paulie Malignaggi has American fight fraternity in raptures -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

The credit was nowhere more glowing, however, than from officials of Home Box Office, the all-powerful television giants who hold the clout to make or break the biggest fighting names in the US.

Khan impressed greatly. There is nothing like seeing a boxer live and Khan did not disappoint. Kerry Davis, the senior vice president of sports programming for Home Box Office was highly impressed by the 23-year-old Briton’s performance.

“That was a terrific performance by Amir. He came out there in the first round and instantly in that first round you could see his speed, and his talent and his punching power," Davis told Telegraph Sport. "For a debut, and coming off the ordeal he had with visa situation, he did very well for a debut performance.

"He has an extremely telegenic style. Speed sells; power sells. And he has both in abundance. I was surprised that he was faster than Paulie [Malignaggi]. Paulie adjusted after a few rounds but his speed even so is very impressive. He’s very fast."

Davis can see several lucrative and thrilling match-ups ahead, in a 140lb division stacked with talent, all young, and all of whom want to prove themselves as last man standing. "It portends to some very exciting match-ups down the road, whether that is [Marcus] Maidana, [Timothy] Bradley or [Devon] Alexander [with Khan, and each other]. They are fights I would pay to see as a boxing fan.

"You need dance partners for great fighters. In the welterweight division, we have Mayweather, Pacquiao, Mosley, Cotto, and at light welterweight we have these young exciting fighters coming through. There a lot of good fights out there over the next two to three years."

Even Malignaggi's promoter, Lou DiBella, was fulsome in his praise of Khan. DiBella's view is worth noting. Before he became a boxing promoter, he was an HBO employee himself, running its boxing and influencing its decision-making.

"Khan could be the best fighter in the world in five years' time. He might lose a couple of fights, because of his style, but he has all the qualities for greatness. Great speed, athleticism, hunger and ambition, charisma and looks...he has it all. He's a real talent," he said.

It may only have been the theater in the Garden, rather than the full arena, yet Khan’s performance was worthy of a greater stage. Those nights will come. HBO’s ‘Boxing After Dark’, the US equivalent of Sky Sports showing boxing on their programmed channels, will have given the US public an appetite for the former silver medallist who holds the World Boxing Association light-welterweight crown.

It may have been a late, late show in the UK, on ITV1, but Khan showed that under Freddie Roach, he is planting through his punches. He also showed he is still raw in some aspects too, leaving openings that a heavy puncher may be able to exploit as he presses forward with his jab. Khan also showed more use of punching from angles by dipping and throwing hooks to the body. He is, according to Roach, still a work in progress.

There are plans underway to have Khan back in the ring in ten weeks’ time, in either London or Manchester. Trainer Roach does not believe it is necessarily too soon to bring him back to work. "I don't think Amir will suffer burnout. He's 23, really hungry and wants to get in there and prove himself. We'll see how he is in the next few weeks."

Richard Shaefer, CEO of Golden Boy promotions, was delighted with the entire show. Schaefer told Telegraph Sport: "We have a July 31 show at the Mandalay Bay when Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz meet each other and maybe there is a possibility Amir could fight on a dual telecast from the UK.

"Amir wants to fight before Ramadan, so we could get a fight in and it could even be that the winners' of those two fighteers go on to meet each other. We will probably look at a few possible opponents for Amir for his next challenge."

At present, it is thought that Marcos Maidana and Michael Katsidis, who stopped Londoner Kevin Mitchell inside three rounds at Upton Park on Saturday night to retain the interim WBO lightweight belt, are being approached to meet Khan.

Source: telegraph.co.uk