WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan will defend his belt against loud mouth Italian American Paulie Malignaggi on Saturday May 15, 2010 at the Madison Square Garden Theater on Saturday night HBO at 9:45 ET/PT.
Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KOs)a British boxer and 2004 Olympic silver medalist representing Britain in boxing will make his HBO and American TV debut on B.A.D (Boxing after Dark) at the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden.
After suffering his first loss by knockout in the first round to Breidis Prescott in 2008, Amir Khan, flew to L.A to train with Manny Pacquiao’s head trainer, Freddie Roach, at the Wild Card boxing gym. Ever since then Khan has looked like a completely different fighter and credits Roach and his conditioning trainer Alex Ariza for the change.
Malignaggi, (27-3, 5 KOs) a brash boxer with few knockouts to his record but with a mouth that stings. Paulie has been very vocal on his opinions of Manny Pacquiao, he believes Manny Pacquiao is taking steroids and performance enhancing drugs that might be given to him by Freddie Roach and his conditioning trainer Alex Ariza. Paulie and the Mayweather family have painted a black question mark on the Wild Card boxing stable and those associated with Pacquiao with these steroid allegations. The Brooklyn boxer wants to spoil Khan’s HBO debut and pull off the upset.
The 23-year-old junior welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (26-2-1, 21 KOs) takes on 38-year old former lightweight champion Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs) in a crossroads bout, both fighters are in a must win situation to remain relevant in the boxing landscape.
Victor Ortiz was highly touted as the next “Golden Boy” of boxing and even promoted by the original Golden Boy himself, Oscar De La Hoya, but after a humiliating defeat to Marcos Maidana in 2009, where Ortiz verbally quit in the 6th round and questioned his boxing career in a post fight interview, wants to prove that he still has that fire in his belly.
For Campbell, he isn’t getting any younger and fighting well past many boxers physical peak, but believes his experience and ring savvy will give him the advantage over the mentally questionable Ortiz.
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