Khan-Marquez off, Malignaggi steps back into the spotlight
by Scott Christ on Feb 11, 2010 4:52 AM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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With Juan Manuel Marquez apparently not interested in fighting Amir Khan on May 15 because he and trainer Nacho Beristain felt he was being treated as a "stepping stone," Paulie Malignaggi has come back into the picture immediately as the most desired option to face the WBA junior welterweight titlist.
There are a lot of catches, though. As was the case when this fight initially came up a while back, Malignaggi and promoter Lou DiBella are adamant that a deal has to be "fair," and that Malignaggi not be treated like a B-side to Khan, who will be making just his second appearance on HBO, and the first that anyone might watch. You may recall Khan's HBO debut came against a completely disinterested Steffy Bull a couple of years ago on the hideous Calzaghe-Manfredo show that nobody watched. His only other appearance on American TV was his March 2009 independent PPV fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, which again nobody watched.
Malignaggi, meanwhile, has a solid name, has HBO backing coming off of career-renewing fights with Juan Diaz, and can draw in New York. That's another thing: DiBella and Malignaggi do not want the fight to be in Las Vegas, which Khan-Marquez would have been. And they're right to not want that, too. It won't draw anybody.
It's a tricky situation, but it's workable for sure. Khan and Golden Boy know their true position here as the incoming hopeful star. Yes, he has a title, but Malignaggi is still more established in America. Khan would still get to keep all of the British TV money, and he'd still make plenty of dough. Malignaggi is also, in theory, a perfect opponent for Khan, or at least as perfect as they get. With Khan's chin being the consistent worry, having him fight a guy with no punch would be the best thing.
With Khan turning into more of a tactician than the aggressive young fighter he was before, Khan-Malignaggi doesn't promise much by way of blood or guts. It could, however, be an incredibly interesting chess match between a couple of guys with fast hands and good boxing skills. My instinct is to say that the veteran Malignaggi has more savvy than Khan, but Khan has Freddie Roach, too. It could be a very good fight.
If Malignaggi does land this fight as it seems to me he should, that would leave Andre Berto open again. DiBella had been trying to finalize a welterweight title fight between Berto and Malignaggi for April 10 in New York, and Rick Reeno says that two potential opponents for Berto on that date (if he keeps the date) would be Carlos Quintana (who has said he's staying at 154) and Kendall Holt (a former 140-pound titlist). If you ask me -- and I note that nobody has -- Berto's camp should do everything they can to get Zab Judah in there. It would make it perfectly reasonable to keep the fight in NYC, and Zab's about as good a welterweight opponent as they're going to find. That or a Luis Collazo rematch, which isn't happening.
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Making this fight appeals to me a lot more than Berto v Malignaggi.I agree that Judah and Quintana are the best opponents for Berto if there is no chance of Collazo.
Berto should start getting stick from fans if he fights another 140lber.
After all they gave Mayweather plenty of it for fighting smaller guys.
Khan to beat Malignaggi for in a pretty close UD for me.
Too young,too fast,coach Roach factor,Malig not being able to take advantage of Khan’s biggest weakness is my reasoning.
Since when does Marques have a problem being a stepping stone?
That’s obviously what Baby Bull thought he was getting, though it didn’t turn out that way. And the fight against Pretty Boy was just moving up in weight for a big fat payday and no real chance of a win, which Nacho all but admitted in the run up to the fight.
If JMM doesn’t want to be used as a stepping stone, he should sign the contract, cash the check, get in the ring, and beat Khan’s ass. You know how much Nacho loves beating Freddy’s fighters anyway. The way to not be a stepping stone is to get in and win, not avoid fights altogether.
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 11, 2010 11:32 AM EST reply actions
plus, who's he going to fight now?
Diaz again? Eh. Marquez has indicated he doesn’t want to fight below 140 for whatever insane reason, so it limits him. They offered him a guy with a world title who is very beatable and he passed.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Feb 11, 2010 11:40 AM EST up reply actions
"You know how much Nacho loves beating Freddy’s fighters anyway"
I’m having a bad day, mental blocks galore, but the only really obvious one I can think of right now is Manny/Oscar, and Nacho didn’t fare too well in that particular battle of the trainers….
Which other ones should I be thinking about here?
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Marquez-Pacquiao
Marquez-Pacquiao II
Vazquez-Marquez I (Freddie was training Izzy for the last time)
Freddie and Nacho legitimately dislike one another.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Feb 11, 2010 1:46 PM EST up reply actions
Ah yes, the Marquez Pac ones....
However, I was trying to think of ones that fit with the post I quoted (I didn’t make this clear, I know), and this would imply that Nacho’s fighter won the fight.
I can’t think of one off the top of my head.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Rafa won against Izzy the first time
So the third fight SC lists there would match your criteria.
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 11, 2010 2:49 PM EST up reply actions
However,
if he has said that about not wanting to fight below 140 then he is just a dumb ass.Or scared to fight Khan.
it’s impressive that malignaggi has gotten so much mileage out of 2 fights he lost, and going 1-1 in his last two. seriously. a lot of guys never get a a shot, or maybe one big shot on the big stage….props to malignaggi’s maneuvering. part of it is his appeal for lacking in power but being durable. perfect foil, seemingly, to a lot of fighters and their managers.
Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei. Basillio. Harry Greb.
by theworldsoldestsport on Feb 11, 2010 11:59 AM EST reply actions
Like a faster, slicker, more appealing version of Ben Tackie....
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Whatever keeps Berto v. Maggs from happening makes me happy.
Seriously. Just contemplating that fight has had me shivering in disgust, and it’s too cold in Brooklyn for excess shivering.
Paulie can’t outbox Khan enough to make up for the gaping power differential, but this could be a entertaining fight, so long as one goes into it knowing that only Paulie has a chance of actually proving something.
Paulie can’t outbox Khan enough to make up for the gaping power differential
There’s also a gaping chin differential. “Gaping chin” sounds gross.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Feb 11, 2010 1:47 PM EST up reply actions
I can see this looking very similar to Hatton/Paulie.
Paulie nicks the first round, and then sometime early in the second, Khan realises that Paulie can’t hurt him. At all.
And there Khan will take over. I can see a world of pain opening up for Paulie. For the record, I don’t really rate Kahn,I don’t really like him either. But he is strong and fast enough to really take it to Paulie if he realises Paulie can’t even hit hard enough to break his chin, of all things….
Paulie has more chance of beating Maidana, I think, because he’d be quick enough to evade for a while, even if Maidana does tag him it’s not the end of the world, and he would win rounds with skill and speed. He doesn’t have those advantages over Khan.
Funny isn’t it? I’d back Khan over Paulie, give Paulie the better chance of a win over Maidana (albeit still a slim one), and I think Maidana polishes the canvas with Khan within 3 rounds.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
You'd be surprised at what could hurt Khan!
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Feb 11, 2010 4:40 PM EST up reply actions
Willie Limond did, and I’ll say for the first time ever that I just named a guy that hits no harder than Malignaggi.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Feb 11, 2010 6:30 PM EST up reply actions
Heck, Malignaggi seemed to hurt Diaz last fight
He just had no idea what to do when it happened.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I like Khan and i am not criticising this Malig fight but if this one gets made it is another light hitter to go with the older,smaller or lesser talented fighters Khan has feasted on before and since Breidis Prescott.
I hope they are just building him up to the bigger,riskier fights and i don’t blame his promoters for being wary of big punchers for the moment but they have got to put him in the danger zone again at some point if he wants the respect a top level,take-on-all-comers fighters gets.
When i think about it i don’t blame GBP for not putting him in with the likes of Bradley and Maidana yet.I think he is capable of outboxing Maiadana and he wouldn’t make the mistake of trying to take him out like Ortiz did but i agree when they say that that fight can be built up.
As far as Bradley goes,Khan himself admitted a couple of weeks ago that he isn’t quite ready for TB yet and i concur.Over the next 2 years there are some great fights at 140 for him-Bradley,Maidana,Alexander,Ortiz,maybe even Hatton.
I believe he will take the big fights eventually.He just needs to stop talking crap about fighting Mayweather at 147 when he has more than enough on his plate at light-welter.
He just needs to stop talking crap about fighting Mayweather at 147 when he has more than enough on his plate at light-welter.
Well, I mean, what would you rather do?
1. Fight and probably lose to Floyd Mayweather Jr. for millions of dollars on a show that millions of people watch?
2. Fight and potentially lose to Timothy Bradley in Rancho Mirage, California?
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Feb 11, 2010 6:32 PM EST up reply actions
Yes we would all go for the money but Mayweather v Khan should be at least 18 months off to do it right,imo.
Khan has a lot to prove before he deserves a fight with Floyd.
by Matt Mosley on Feb 12, 2010 12:47 PM EST up reply actions
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