Khan - Malignaggi & Ortiz - Campbell Fightwriter Preview

[Wheelchair]

In December, 1997, Naseem Hamed made a spectacular U.S. debut when he knocked out New Yorker Kevin Kelley in four rounds at Madison Square Garden, each man going down three times. On Saturday night it’s the turn of another British superstar, Amir Khan, to appear for the first time in America, also at the Garden and on HBO, although Khan’s WBA 140-pound title defence against Paulie Malignaggi will be downstairs at the Garden’s theatre.

 

Like Hamed, Khan is meeting a New York boxer, and the Olympic silver medallist from Bolton in Lancashire will be hoping to make a similarly thrilling impression on U.S. fans — minus getting knocked down, of course.

 

Khan has blossomed as a fighter since making the decision to move to Los Angeles to be trained by Freddie Roach at the Wild Card gym. He looks more of a complete professional, punching harder and making his moves more smoothly, while physically he looks bigger and stronger after workouts supervised by fitness and strength coach Alex Ariza.

 

In his last fight, Khan easily blew away Brooklyn’s Dmitriy Salita in 76 seconds. He faces a much longer, more difficult fight with Malignaggi, but Khan is confident of winning by stoppage.

 

“I don’t think Malignaggi’s fought anyone like myself with speed, power and with adrenaline, who can put the pressure on a fighter,” Khan told me in an interview for Boxing Monthly. “I never go into a fight thinking I’m going to knock this guy out. The game plan is to hit and move and not to make any mistake. I stick to the game plan, but as soon as I see them hurt, that’s when I put the pressure on, when I want to finish them off.

 

“To be honest with you, this fight, I can’t see it going the full distance. I can see myself getting this guy out of there, putting him away.”

 

Malignaggi has only been stopped once, when, on a terrible night for him, he was overpowered in 11 rounds by Ricky Hatton. He is quick, clever and game, with an outstanding chin — he stood up to Miguel Cotto’s superior firepower and made a gritty, competitive fight of it despite suffering a broken eye socket. So a quick win by Khan is highly unlikely, even though Freddie Roach is predicting a five-round victory.

 

There was a spell in which Malignaggi was regressing as he struggled to beat Herman Ngoudjo, barely edged out a win over Lovemore Ndou in their rematch and then looked a shadow of his old self against Hatton. Malignaggi claims, though, that his loss of form was due to trainer Buddy McGirt trying to impose an unsuitable style of boxing on him. As Malignaggi tells it, McGirt was trying to make him into something he wasn’t meant to be — an in-the-pocket type of counter puncher rather than a fleet-footed stylist. Malignaggi says he is back to his best, boxing in the style that most suits him, under the New York trainer, Sherif Younan.

 

Perhaps Malignaggi has a point, because he looked better than he has in the last few years when he outclassed Juan Diaz in their rematch in December.

 

Malignaggi was very sharp that night, and at times he was almost playing with Diaz. However, he was meeting a smaller man, and Diaz seemed to resign himself to defeat after suffering a cut over the left eye in the second round. It was as if getting cut, so early in the contest, took all the steam out of Diaz. This was a superb performance by Malignaggi but I don’t think he was meeting the same, intense Diaz as the one he boxed in Houston four months earlier.

 

Khan has put the Breidis Prescott debacle far behind him. He is brimming with confidence and straining at the leash. My one concern about Khan is that his training was disrupted due to visa issues and he had to leave Los Angeles to spend two weeks in Vancouver while his U.S. visa was processed. However, Freddie Roach and his sparring partners joined him in Vancouver, Khan was allowed exclusive use of a local gym, and he says the change of location was a pleasant diversion rather than a troublesome issue.

 

I can see Khan having a very good night against Malignaggi. He looks bigger, stronger and more powerful than his opponent. Malignaggi has a classy left jab, moves well and throws the oft-injured right hand quite crisply when he chooses to use it, but Khan is the puncher in the fight and he is picking his shots better than he has ever done.

 

Khan might have to eat some jabs but I think he will eventually begin to land his jabs, hooks and right hands as his speed and pressure starts to make Malignaggi uncomfortable. I don’t believe that Khan will blast right through Malignaggi but I do think he will gradually break him down with an accumulation of punches. I just don’t think that Paulie can keep Khan off for 12 rounds. Khan will, I think, win in style, with the end coming in the 10th or 11th round.

 

 

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[Wheelchair]

Victor Ortiz, criticised for surrendering against Marcos Maidana last June, can make amends with a strong showing against veteran Nate Campbell in their 10-round junior welter bout at the Madison Square Garden theatre on Saturday night, the opening bout on HBO’s show that features Amir Khan’s U.S. debut against Paulie Malignaggi.

 

I can’t be too hard on Ortiz for bailing out against Maidana. He was cut over one eye, the other eye was swelling shut, he had been knocked down and he was getting hurt — and he was in the ring with the heaviest puncher in the 140-pound division. He faced a brutal ordeal against a fighter who was coming on strongly, and I think that Ortiz felt that it just wasn’t going to be his night.

 

Ortiz could have covered up and waited for the referee to rescue him, but instead he admitted that he’d had enough.

 

I can’t brand Ortiz a quitter or a front runner based on this one fight.

 

Ortiz faces a stiff test on Saturday night against a hard-hitting, crafty veteran who was a world champion at 135 pounds. Campbell is the underdog but he has upset the odds before, destroying Almazbek Raiymkulov and outfighting Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz, who were both unbeaten at the time.

 

Campbell’s plan is to come out and put pressure on Ortiz and test his will. “Ortiz won’t show Nate anything that he hasn’t seen before,” Campbell’s manager, Terry Trekas, said over the phone from New York this week. “He’s too experienced for this kid and I think he’ll break him down in seven, eight rounds.”

 

I get the feeling, though, that Campbell is beginning to fade. He is 38, and he was getting overwhelmed by Timothy Bradley in his last fight when a cut over Campbell’s eye caused a three-round finish. (If we’re talking about fighters giving in, it did seem that Campbell was rather eager to withdraw himself from the fray in that fight.)

 

Ortiz, 23, is the bigger, younger, stronger, quicker fighter. I also believe he is the puncher in the fight. He knocked down Maidana three times in the first two rounds, and there are many junior welters who might well have stayed down from the sort of shots that Ortiz landed that night.

 

In his two subsequent bouts, Ortiz has been controlled and disciplined, to the point of being cautious. He seems to be paying much more attention to his defence and being smart in the ring, hitting and not getting hit.

 

Campbell must be respected but I think that this fight is being made at exactly the right time for Ortiz. He has had a couple of comfortable wins, he has worked on his boxing technique, and now he is ready for another risky type of fight.

 

I expect Campbell to be competitive, but I see Ortiz being too much for him. Campbell will be looking to land right hands but I think Ortiz has the boxing ability to block and slip punches and come back with sharp hitting from out of his southpaw stance. Ortiz won’t be able to dodge them all, but he took some huge hits from Maidana and picked himself off the floor, so I don’t see him wilting from Campbell’s blows.

 

This is an excellent fight, experience against youth, but I see it as trains moving in different directions. I think that Ortiz, for the most part, can land his left hands through the middle before the older man can pull the trigger on his right hand, and I think that the muscular southpaw moves well enough to prevent Campbell from scoring in a consistent way. It could develop into a tactical contest, with Ortiz having the advantage on the outside with hand speed and superior firing power and up close with his physical strength. Campbell has fought well against southpaws — he outclassed Matt Zegan and Ricky Quiles — but these fights were at 135 pounds and now he is meeting a powerful, talented young 140-pounder.

 

Evan at the age of 38 Campbell cannot be ruled out of a fight, but I will be surprised if he wins on Saturday. I like Ortiz to box his way to a decision victory, although if he can drill Campbell the way he did Maidana there is a real possibility of an early ending.

 

 

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[Wheelchair]

Head to Head on the Khan fight from the Ring.......

 

 

Skills: Khan and Malignaggi are boxers by nature. Sure, both guys have fiery tempers at times and neither are afraid to mix it up, but they are at their best when they stick the fundamentals of the Sweet Science and use their speed and reflexes to outbox their foes. Khan works from a classic, stand-up stance using in-and-out movement to set up super fast one-two combinations. Malignaggi does that well, too, but his style is a looser, more professional version of Khan’s. Malignaggi has more head and upper-body movement. His jab is more educated, his footwork is more varied and effective, and he has a better inside game.

Edge: Malignaggi

 

Power: Well, this category isn’t very hard to figure. Malignaggi only has five knockouts to his credit. However, it should be noted that chronic hand problems early in his career and the stiff quality of his opposition later on are factors in that low stat. Malignaggi can punch a little bit. However, Khan is a darn good puncher, and the young man’s phenomenal speed only enhances that “pop.”

Edge: Khan

 

Speed and athletic ability: Khan and Malignaggi are among the fastest junior welterweights in the sport. Both possess excellent reflexes and hand-eye coordination. However, the 23-year-old Brit’s speed -- of hand, foot and reflexes -- is just a notch or two above Malignaggi’s. Khan also posses more raw physical strength and is more explosive in the manner in which he executes his offense.

Edge: Khan

 

Defense: Both boxers use their feet and fast reflexes to avoid punches. Khan does a better job of keeping his hands up and blocking shots with his gloves, but his upper body is rigid and he’s there to be hit as a result of his stiff, straight-up fighting posture. Malignaggi has the head- and upper-body flexibility to get under, turn with and lean away from punches that are aimed at his head. Malignaggi also does a decent job of blocking punches.

Edge: Malignaggi

 

Experience: Malignaggi doesn’t just have more fights and pro rounds under his belt, he’s faced more solid fighters than Khan. Malignaggi has fought more titleholders (four to Khan’s three) and more elite (or former elite) fighters (Cotto, Hatton and Diaz), while Khan has only faced one elite name (Barrera).

Edge: Malignaggi

 

Chin: Khan’s been floored four times (vs. Willie Limond, Michael Gomez, and twice against Prescott) and he didn’t get up after the second knockdown vs. Prescott. Malignaggi has been down once, in the second round vs. Cotto, and he got up and lasted the 12-round distance with the hard-punching Puerto Rican beltholder. His fight with Hatton was stopped in the 11th round when his corner threw in the towel. Maliganggi was woefully behind on the scorecards but he wasn’t seriously hurt or wobbled at the time.

Edge: Malignaggi

 

Conditioning: Both boxers condition themselves to stick-and-move for 12 rounds. Khan, however, has shown the ability (vs. Kotelnik) to throw an incredibly high volume of punches with constant movement for 36 minutes. Khan also has one of the best conditioning coaches in the business (Alex Ariza) working with him.

Edge: Khan

 

Wear and tear: Malignaggi is the veteran in this contest and he’s been in more grueling fights, most notably his losses to Cotto and Hatton. His lack of power has forced him to go more rounds, which eventually begins to take a toll on a fighters legs.

Edge: Khan

 

Corner: Brooklyn’s Sherif Younan is a talented trainer who has done an amazing job with Malignaggi in a short period of time, basically helping to revitalize the former titleholder’s career in just three fights. However, in Khan’s corner is Freddie Roach, the four-time Trainer of the Year, according to the Boxing Writers Association of America. ‘Nuff said.

Edge: Khan

 

Outcome: Looking to make a statement in his U.S. debut, Khan will start fast and aggressive, launching power shots behind a rapid-fire jab. Khan will set the WaMu Theater crowd on fire by stunning and dropping Malignaggi with a sneaky lead left hook sometime in the early rounds, but the New York veteran will beat the count and grab and hold in order to survive the rocky moment. Malignaggi will begin to acclimate to Khan’s speed in the middle rounds and slow the pace of the bout down by landing accurate counter punches. A well-placed right uppercut will cause Khan’s legs to buckle, earning the more experienced fighter a measure of respect from the rising star and giving the audience another thrill. However, Khan’s busier workrate and concentrated body attack will take the steam out of Malignaggi’s legs and punches down the stretch of the fight, forcing the vet to hold and grapple just to survive the late rounds.

 

Prediction: Khan by unanimous decision