“I’m sure Khan’s good,” Malignaggi says

New York: The boxer Amir Khan spent late April and early May in Vancouver, British Columbia, his entry into the United States delayed while he obtained a work visa. By Saturday, Khan had gone to work here for the first time, and his opponent, Paulie Malignaggi, wished the stopover had been longer.

Khan justified the hype he brought with him from England. He punished Malignaggi at the outset and pummeled him throughout, registering a technical knockout 1 minute 25 seconds into the 11th round.

In a one-sided triumph that was nearly stopped earlier, Khan retained his World Boxing Association super lightweight title in front of 4,412 at Madison Square Garden’s smaller theater. Afterward, he said he planned to remain in that division until he could unify the belts, and that he will fight in England in July.

“I was just amazed,” said Richard Schaefer, the chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions. “The speed. The combinations. The power. He’s the total package.”

Khan (23-1, 17 knockouts) landed more jabs, more power punches and more total punches (259 to 127). He won every round and forced Malignaggi (27-4) to deliver an opinion opposite from all the criticism he levied across an ocean the past few months.

Malignaggi took questions with a swollen left eye and bruised face. He said that of the four fighters he has lost to, he considered two, Khan and Miguel Cotto, to be truly elite — high praise for Khan, who won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics and does not turn 24 until December.

“He’s a terrific fighter,” Lou DiBella, Malignaggi’s promoter, said. “He’s a tremendously talented kid.”

Khan dictated the pace in the early rounds, stalking Malignaggi, throwing punches with more potency and frequency. In the second round, Khan landed a four-punch combination that sent Malignaggi backward, and by the middle of the next round, Malignaggi’s left eye appeared swollen.

The fight continued in that vein, with the man nicknamed King Khan playing the aggressor. In the fourth round, Khan ducked, then bounced Malignaggi’s head backward with a powerful right hand.

Khan brutalized Malignaggi repeatedly with that hand, with jabs and overhand rights and straight rights, until every round seemed almost exactly like the one before. When Malignaggi adjusted in Round 7, Khan smacked him repeatedly with the left.

Soon after, doctors checked on Malignaggi between rounds. He begged to go back out for No. 11. The referee stopped it halfway through.

“We had to break him down slowly,” Khan said. “From Round 9, I knew I wasn’t letting him off. I had to keep the pressure on him.”

The pressure started, in large part, through a Twitter feud escalated at Friday’s weigh-in, when the fighters’ camps exchanged shoves and punches before security stepped in. DiBella stalked through the room afterward, incensed, his voice rising.

So went another fight week, even if this was not exactly a normal fight.

For starters, it was Khan’s debut in the United States, where he is somewhat unknown. Khan’s low profile here stands in stark contrast to his celebrity status in England, where he once met former Prime Minister Tony Blair and carved out a résumé that shaped his candidacy as one of boxing’s next potential stars.

Khan’s only loss came by knockout at the bruising hands of Breidis Prescott, who won his bout on Saturday’s undercard. After that defeat, Khan hired Freddie Roach, perhaps boxing’s best trainer, who steered Manny Pacquiao toward greatness. Still, questions lingered.

“I’m sure Khan’s good,” Malignaggi said on Wednesday. “But he’s unproven at a high level. He hasn’t got one major victory on his record. They handed him a world title, after he got knocked out.”

Malignaggi presented a real test, even though Khan entered the bout the heavy favorite. Malignaggi once held his own super lightweight title belt — he lost to Ricky Hatton in 2008 — but he fell so far so fast that he made only $10,000 in his next fight and wondered if his boxing days were numbered.

Malignaggi also hired a new trainer, Sherif Younan. As Malignaggi rebuilt his reputation — winning his rematch against Juan Diaz in December to rise back into title contention — he credited Younan.

Malignaggi said this fight, held near his native Brooklyn, represented redemption. But he also knew the brutal truth: another loss, and even his promoter said fights of this magnitude would likely be out of reach.

Afterward, Malignaggi was not sure what would come next. Off they went, two fighters headed in opposite directions. King Khan had come here and delivered. His message was emphatic.

Amir Khan retain light welter-weight World title

New York: British boxer of Pakistani origin Amir Khan gave American fight fans a taste of what he can do inside a boxing ring on Saturday night, scoring an 11th-round stoppage win over Paulie Malignaggi in New York.

The British fighter improved to 23-1 with 17 knockouts and retained his World Boxing Association 140-pound title for the second time. Referee Steve Smoger stopped the bout at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden midway through the 11th with Malignaggi far behind on the scorecards and unable to cope with Khan's hand speed.

The 23-year-old winner from Bolton had fought entirely in Great Britain until Saturday.
The fighters set a brisk pace in the first round, with Khan getting the nod in a competitive stanza. Malignaggi arguably won the second, but there was little for his supporters to cheer about after that point.
Khan established distance with his jab and appeared to hurt Malignaggi with a left hand to the body in the fifth. The fighters fell into a clinch, and Malignaggi slid to the canvas and took his time getting up, buying some seconds before having to engage again.

Khan gradually began to snap his opponent's head with frequency with left hooks and right hands as the fight wore on. Afterward, Khan had praise for the 29-year-old challenger, with whom he tussled in a shoving match at Friday's weigh-in.
Khan rose to prominence at 17, winning a bronze medal in the 132-pound lightweight category at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

He rolled to 18 consecutive wins as a pro until getting blitzed in one round by Breidis Prescott of Colombia in 2008.

Khan soon after decamped to Los Angeles to work with esteemed trainer Freddie Roach on his fundamentals. Problems with his work visa in recent weeks saw him travel to Vancouver, where he spent time preparing for the bout at Sugarrays Gym.

Brooklyn native Malignaggi dropped to 27-4-1 (five KOs). Khan joined fellow Briton Ricky Hatton as the only fighters to stop the former International Boxing Federation titleholder.

Essex pair Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield arrested in spot-fixing

London: Danish Kaneria, Essex's Pakistan wrist spinner, and young fast bowler Mervyn Westfield have been arrested by Essex police on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud following the police's investigation into alleged spot-fixing in Essex's Pro40 match against Durham last September

Both men appeared at Brentwood police station on Friday and were questioned under caution before being released on bail until Sept 15, pending further inquiries.

As neither has yet been charged with any offence, both are free to continue playing cricket until then, by which time Pakistan will have completed their Test series against England. That should allow Pakistan's selectors to at least pick Kaneria, with only a modicum of controversy hanging over him.

That series needs Kaneria, though the England and Wales Cricket Board, as full signatories to the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption code, will be torn over his presence.

Now that Shane Warne is retired, he is the world's pre-eminent wrist-spinner, and unless Pakistan's selectors decide not to select him while the investigation is ongoing, he is crucial to their competitiveness in that series.

Essex police had wanted to interview Kaneria, 29, who has 58 Test caps for Pakistan, last Monday, three days after his return to England, but that was during Essex's County Championship match with Kent and the club asked if that could be deferred until yesterday. Every other Essex player, as well as the support staff, have been helping police with their inquiries.

Kaneria's performance in the match against Durham is not under scrutiny, but he is thought to have introduced Westfield, whose performance against Durham is under the microscope, to an illegal bookmaker.

Westfield, 22, has been interviewed before by police, who confiscated his mobile phone. He conceded 60 runs in seven overs in the 40-over match against Durham, with four wides and two no-balls.

While bad bowling is not proof of guilt, spot-fixing, whereby a small event in the game is fixed, such as a wide or a dropped catch, is thought to be the vehicle favoured by India's illegal bookmakers to manipulate bets, in which millions of pounds are staked on the smallest shifts within a match, to their advantage.

That way they can also involve vulnerable individuals on the margin of the team rather than the key players (needed if a result is to be fixed) - which makes it both less detectable and more cost effective.

Essex police confirmed that their investigation, which began in March this year, followed allegations received. As these allegations are thought to have come from other players, it has made for an uncomfortable dressing room this season.

The employment situation from the club's point of view is equally tricky unless guilt is proven. Yet, with both Kaneria and Westfield's contracts up for renewal at the end of this season, it may not be long before we see how their club has judged them.