Posts Tagged ‘ Boxing ’

Lamont Peterson to Lose Titles and Chance of Rematch with Amir Khan

By Kevin Mitchell for The Guardian

Amir Khan’s rematch with Lamont Peterson was officially cancelled last night and the American will almost certainly be stripped of his world titles over a failed drug test when he goes before the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday.

Khan is likely to fight on 30 June for the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation light-welterweight titles he lost to Peterson in Washington last December. The former champion will return to Bolton on Saturday and await the announcement of his new opponent.

It is an anticlimactic turn of events for Khan, who confirmed on Twitter: “The fight is off! sorry everyone the only person to blame is [Peterson].” He was desperate for revenge over the American, who rose from living on the streets of Washington with his brother as an abandoned waif to being warmly embraced as one of the sport’s most heart-warming heroes. That fairytale now lies in tatters.

When Peterson’s team flew from Washington to Las Vegas on Tuesday it was to argue that the presence of a banned synthetic substance resulted from the “inadvertent” use of pellets designed to counter low testosterone levels.

The Nevada commission’s executive director, Keith Kizer, said beforehand it would take some “really enlightening” new evidence to persuade the commission that Peterson should be granted a licence to box in Nevada. Nobody thought that was going to happen and last night the promoters called it off.

Even before their plane had landed, sentiment had swung away from the likable Peterson. He had left his supporters disappointed – and Khan without a credible opponent.

The drama of the past couple of days reached another high point on Wednesday when the commission released details that Peterson tested positive before challenging Khan before Christmas in his home town. It was a fight of rolling controversy but recent developments have overridden even those rows about questionable refereeing and the mysterious appearance at ringside of the man who came to be known as “The Cat In The Hat”, Mustafa Ameen.

Referring to Peterson’s positive test for excessive levels of testosterone, Kizer said: “He and his team say it was inadvertent. We consider it dishonest. We have to go through the proper procedures, not least with reference to the chairman [of the commission, who has the final say on granting a licence], but we can see no alternative to refusing him a licence.”

Asked about Peterson’s pre-fight declarations in support of stringent drugs-testing, Kizer replied: “Isn’t it always the way with athletes who [test positive for] drugs? We would have loved to have Mr Khan fight here on the 19th but clearly that is not possible. The Peterson team left it too late to inform everybody, ourselves included.

“I feel sorry for Mr Khan and all the undercard fighters who will not now be paid, as well as all the fans who bought tickets and made travel plans.”

It is estimated as many as 4,000 British fans have already booked flights, hotels and tickets – Khan’s biggest ever contingent of support since he moved to the US to fight under the tutelage of Freddie Roach. He has grown in popularity, with local fans and with the powerbrokers of the game, from Golden Boy Promotions, to the commissioners.

“Hopefully we will have Mr Khan back here in June,” Kizer said. “He is always welcome here. We have informed the Washington commission and I suppose they will invalidate the result [of the fight in December]. It’s certain we would have been doing so had it taken place in Las Vegas. I suspect the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation will strip Mr Peterson of his titles.”

Khan tweeted: “Let’s hope the right thing will be done.” He added: “Boxing is a dangerous sport a toe to toe battle someone can seriously get hurt especially with an unfair disadvantage, we need to put a stop to this, I still believe they are my belts.”

The options for Khan are many and varied. He may contemplate another go with a fellow Golden Boy client, Marcos Maidana, whom he beat in a belting affair at the Mandalay Bay. Zab Judah, whom he beat at the same venue, is likely out of the picture as he is trying to negotiate a fight with Juan Manuel Márquez, but the unbeaten Philadelphian star Danny García would fancy his chances.

Whoever it is, it will not be the opponent Khan was desperate to fight.

2012
05/11
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Lamont Peterson, Amir Khan Set Fight

By Dan Rafael for Espn

Unified junior welterweight titlist Lamont Peterson and former titleholder Amir Khan will meet in a rematch at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on May 19, a little more than five months to the day after their all-action first fight went down as one of the most controversial bouts of 2011.

“Everyone is very pleased that this is Lamont’s next fight,” attorney Jeff Fried, who represents Peterson and Barry Hunter, Peterson’s trainer/manager and father figure, told ESPN.com on Thursday after the deal had been signed. “It was challenging for a variety of reasons, including some of the post-fight antics undertaken by Khan. But at the end of the day, Lamont and Barry had a singular focus on what is in the best interest in Lamont Peterson and his family, and that is what drove this deal getting done.”

England’s Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) came to Peterson’s native Washington, D.C., to defend his belts Dec. 10 and lost a split decision in a fight filled with great action but marred by questionable officiating, issues over the scorecards and an unauthorized figure at ringside.

“Both sides are signed, but this has been one of the most difficult negotiations I have had for any fight I have ever been involved with,” said Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer, who has negotiated dozens of major fights. “There was a lot of back and forth, but it all ended good in getting this fight done. I think it’s one of the most anticipated rematches. It’s the right fight for Lamont and the right fight for Amir, and I’m really excited both parties agreed to do this fight.”

Peterson accepted the deal from Golden Boy, which handles Khan, for the rematch even though Top Rank’s Bob Arum had been wooing Peterson, a promotional free agent, for a fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, which he hoped to put on at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Peterson, who earned $650,000 for the first fight and rejected a $1 million offer for the rematch shortly after the first fight, will make “substantially more than $1 million,” Fried said, although he did not divulge the terms.

Khan, who has a contract with HBO in the United States and Sky in England, brings substantial money to the fight but wanted the rematch so badly that he gave 50 percent of the worldwide revenue that the fight will generate to Peterson.

“We offered 50-50 because that was how much Amir wanted this fight,” Schaefer said. “There were times where it looked like we were close to getting it done, but it was a drawn out process. But in the end it was not a sanctioning organization, a TV network, the media or fans who made this rematch. It’s the fighters who wanted to get the fight done. It was Lamont Peterson saying he didn’t want to fight anybody else except Amir Khan and it was Amir Khan saying he wanted to fight only Lamont Peterson. That is what makes fights.

“The truth is both fighters had other options. But it really came down to what they wanted most. For both guys, other options might have been more lucrative, but it was not really only about the money. They realized the right thing to do was to fight each other again.”

The refereeing was the most controversial aspect of the December fight. Khan had two points deducted for pushing — an almost unheard of foul call — in the seventh and 12th rounds by Washington-area referee Joe Cooper. Without the deductions, Khan would have retained the belts via unanimous decision.

Khan complained that while he was docked points for pushing, Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs) was never warned for leading with his head. Golden Boy also raised questions about judge George Hill’s scoring of the seventh round, which appeared to read 10-10 but was crossed out to read 10-8 in Peterson’s favor.

Then there was the much-publicized issue of the so-called ringside “mystery man,” who turned out to be Mustafa Ameen, who is affiliated with the IBF and had a credential arranged as a courtesy from the organization, but was not at the fight in an official capacity. However, he was seen on video at ringside apparently touching the scoring slips, which is against the rules, and distracting a judge. He was later seen in the ring apparently celebrating with the Peterson team after the fight.

It all led to Khan protesting the decision to the sanctioning bodies and harsh words were exchanged between the camps. But now all of that should only add to the interest surrounding the rematch, which will headline HBO’s “World Championship Boxing.”

“May the better man win,” Schaefer said. “It will be one of the most talked-about fights of the year. This is one of those fights people wanted to see and I am happy we can deliver it to the fight fans. I will say this, Jeff Fried deserves a lot of credit for helping us get this done.”

Schaefer said he is close to finalizing the co-featured bout for the card, which would also take place in the 140-pound division: Lucas Matthysse (29-2, 27 KOs), the hard punching contender from Argentina, against former lightweight titleholder Humberto Soto (57-7-2, 34 KOs) of Mexico, who is now fighting as a junior welterweight.

“I am almost done with that fight and HBO is licking their chops on this fight,” Schaefer said. “Those two fights as a doubleheader is probably the best 1-2 punch HBO boxing has delivered in a long time.”

2012
02/10
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Jacksonville Jaguars- Allah’s NFL Team?

By Manzer Munir for Pakistanis for Peace

The last few days have not been easy ones for me. I have had to watch as my adopted homeland, the United States, is accused by Pakistan, the nation of my forefathers, for being responsible for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers by “friendly” fire.

So it wasn’t hard to imagine that once again I would be hurting for being both American and Muslim as I was on 9/11, and now I am once again feeling the pinch of being both Pakistani and American as well. Believe it or not, you can love two countries; just ask Italian or Irish Americans. I am sure you know that this is not the first time and certainly will not be the last time that as a Pakistani American I will be reeling from news concerning Pakistan. Yet the covert attack and neutralization of Osama Bin Laden in May of this year in Pakistan, a country long suspected to be his hiding place, have all but shattered any remaining doubts to the American public regarding which side of the fence Pakistan finds itself. As President Bush so famously said “You’re either with us, or against us” to President Pervez Musharraf immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2011.

At least since Bin Laden’s killing on May 2, 2011, as far as the average American, John Q Public is concerned, it appears that Pakistan was against us all along, and merely only was paying lip service the last 10 years. However staffers at the US State Department, all the way up to Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Obama will rightly admit, that this simply is not the case. Pakistan has been a difficult ally to be sure, but the country has been an ally nonetheless and has proven time and time again to be invaluable not just in this current fight for the strategic direction of Afghanistan, but also was critical in the last great fight involving this land against the former USSR in the ‘80’s.

One can go even further back and talk about the historically strong US and Pakistan relations that go all the way back to at least President Eisenhower and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), a security pact similar to NATO, but for Asia and parts of the Pacific, it was an organization of which Pakistan and the US comprised membership, along with six other nations namely Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand. This was an eclectic bunch of nations to be sure, but a defense pact tying Pakistan and the US, this once brought the two together in a treaty of mutual defense and cooperation going back as early as 1954.

One would also be remiss if we forget that the famous US Air force pilot Gary Powers flew on a U-2 secret mission from Pakistan’s Peshawar airbase at the request of Eisenhower and at Pakistan’s acquiescence. He had been doing a reconnaissance mission against the Soviets at the height of the Cold War when his plane was shot down causing the then famous 1960 U-2 incident. Amazingly, it was less than just a couple generations ago when President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously called Pakistan America’s “most allied ally in Asia. Wow, as the old Virginia Slim’s cigarette ad tagline used to go “ You’ve come a long way baby!” Haven’t you, Pakistan?

I suppose before we get lost on another few paragraphs on US-Pakistan alliances of old and their longstanding history of cooperation and friendship, whether from the days of the Cold War or the far more recent war on terror, let me get back to the original purpose of this article. So, there I was, in my now seemingly regular funk, on account of all the rapidly downward spiraling US-Pak relations, and then, there it was, a glimmer of hope for a bit of positive news. Maybe a chance for something unrelated to terror, bombs, Taliban, Shiite-Sunni violence, blasphemy laws, honor killings or anyone of the myriad of utterly negative topics that so easily and regularly grace the top of the headline news on any cable news channel on any given day regarding Pakistan.

So here finally was some positive news regarding this nation. Initially I wondered if perhaps this feel good story would be along the lines of the usual sports filled beacons of hope for the otherwise unfortunate Pakistani masses such as in the form of when an Amir Khan gains world boxing glory or when an Imran Khan led cricket team of old wins a Cricket World Cup or maybe it was similar to the legend of the Khan boys, Jahanghir and Jansher Khan who were busy conquering the world of squash (racquetball) for decades. Perhaps this news I so eagerly awaited to get me out of this rut was related to a scientific or professional endeavor that highlighted Pakistani achievements and success stories such as that of Pakistani born neurologist Dr Malik M Hasan, the man who single-handedly helped change the medical industry in the US for the better, when over the course of a few years through a process of mergers and acquisitions, he helped eventually form HSI, a multi-billion dollar healthcare provider that in 1993, which was an organization with about 1.4 million members, 40,000 doctors, and nearly 400 member hospitals! His innovative and entrepreneurial management style led to the very first modern Health Management Organization (HMO) in the United States, and thereby brought more affordable healthcare to the vast majority of Americans in the 1980’s. Dr Hasan eventually grew the business to be worth more than $10 billion dollars and countless thousands jobs for professionals through many midwestern and western states.

Maybe a boldly similar idea or solution in today’s rapidly increasing costs of healthcare and lack of insurance for over 40 million Americans can come, if not from a Pakistani American like Dr Hasan, then perhaps from another of the world’s brightest who still yearn to come to these shores with their dreams and aspirations for success and achieving a piece of the American Dream that millions of their countryman from Europe had done years before them. Along the way, people like Dr Hasan employed hundreds and thousands of Americans and become a mega job creator, kind of like the ones that Republicans say they love.

It could be that the Pakistani American feel good story bringing much needed good news to the Pakistani global diaspora, and indeed by that realization, at the very least, to a Pakistani American like myself was going to be similar to a fellow Lahore born compatriot like Tariq Farid, the founder of the wildly popular Edible Arrangements, a US based international franchise that specializes in fresh fruit arrangements for special occasions and gifts. With nearly a 1000 locations in the US and a few countries abroad, I am sure many a Congressman from both Red and Blue states would love to attract job creators like him to their state and lure his growing and profitable company, during these economically depressed times, to their state from their Headquarters in Connecticut.

I suppose I could go on and on at the long list of distinguished Pakistani Americans from the renowned NASA physicist, Dr Bashir A Syed, to Gibran Latif Hamdan, the first person of Pakistani descent to play in the NFL. Other major contributions not in the field of science, sports or business, yet still as inspirational to Pakistani Americans could have been the story of the American hero of Pakistani descent, Sgt. Wasim Khan, the first Purple Heart winner from that nation who won the award for valor during Operation Iraqi Freedom, costing him numerous injuries while fighting for our freedoms.

Certainly no one to date has better demonstrated a greater sacrifice to this nation than the story of Cpl. Kareem R Khan, another Pakistani American, one who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his beloved country, the United States, when he gave his life for American freedom, liberty and ideals dying on Iraqi soil during combat there. He also earned the Purple Heart and has the honor of being buried at the resting place of fallen American heroes, the venerated Arlington National Cemetery. One can do their own Google search for a list of Pakistani Americans to find out that this list comprises far more accomplished and good citizens of Pakistani descent than the occasional delusional individual like Faisal Shahzad, of the Times Square bomb fame.

So you bet it was good news for me to hear a few days ago that a successful and hard working American businessman and multi-millionaire from the midwest, Shahid Khan, a Pakistani American owner of a large automobile parts manufacturer, Flex-N-Gate, had just bought an NFL team, the Jacksonville Jaguars! My rare good optimism however seems to perhaps been ill placed though because it seems that even a positive and notable news story like this can quickly turn into something far more twisted and sinister as witnessed by the scores of Islamophobic and racial comments being left on the Jacksonville Jaguars Facebook page and other sports blogs and boards, hours since the sale and the origins and national background of the new owner became public. The deal which still has to go to an NFL owner’s vote would only then be complete and final. Whether the NFL owner’s vote affirmatively on the deal or not, the rancid and clearly Un-American comments on the team’s fan page demonstrate that a majority of the local fans of this NFL team seem only to care about his Pakistani background and not of the fact that he is committed to staying and keeping the team in the small Jacksonville market and that he is a genuine fan of football and by all accounts would make a great manager/owner of the franchise.

The sad fact remains that there is a possibility that despite all the countless contributions to this great nation made by Pakistani Americans, many of these die hard football fans have no problem with risking losing their team to a different owner who would take the team out possibly west to the vacant Los Angeles market than to have a “Paki” keep the team in Florida’s small Jacksonville market and try and build a contender there.

Maybe its his IRS troubles that Shahid had a few years ago that prevented him from buying the St Louis Ram’s majority ownership stake last year or maybe it really is his very interesting moustache that scares people away. Regardless, I will gladly take either reason for his bid not being approved than anything that points to his national origin or racial makeup. Afterall, us Americans should never forget the words of the late great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr when he said that we should ”not judge a man by the color of his skin, but rather by the content of his character.” All I know is that this Pakistani American still keeps alive Dr King’s dream. So no amount of paranoia should let the die-hard Jaguar fans fear that Muslims and Allah are on their way to taking over their beloved NFL franchise. Now gentlemen, let’s play ball!

–Manzer Munir, a proud American of Pakistani descent, is a former US State Department Foreign Service Officer Management Selectee, and the founder of Pakistanis for Peace. He is also an often tormented fan of the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL as well as having the good fortune of being a lifelong fan of Kansas Jayhawk Basketball.

2011
12/01
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Amir Khan on George Lopez

Here is a video of Amir Khan on the George Lopez show after the win against Zab Judah.

2011
07/29
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Amir Khan, A Son of Pakistan

By Manzer Munir for Pakistanis for Peace

Amir Khan is a British boxer. Let’s first get that straight. He represented Britain in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece where he was the only British boxer in the contingent. In those Olympics, the British flag was raised and a medal counted towards their overall tally due to Amir’s performance. At the age of 17, he brought home the silver in his lightweight boxing class and became the youngest British boxer to represent the United Kingdom since Colin Jones in 1976.

Since then, an impressive professional career has blossomed to where presently Khan is the current WBA Super Lightweight champion of the world. He has a record of 26 wins and only one loss with 17 of those wins coming by way of a knockout. That sole loss to Briedis Prescott, where Khan was knocked out in the first round, is the only blemish in his otherwise stellar career. Since that bout in 2008 against Prescott, Khan has gone on to defeat such notable fighters as Marcos Antonio Barrera, Marcos Maidana and Paul McCloskey. Today he is considered one of the best pound for pound British fighters in the world.

Standing in his way to even bigger fame and glory was tonight’s fight against Zab Judah, the IBF light welterweight champion of the world and a fighter who had won five world titles in different weight classes. The fight was thought to be very interesting as Judah is considered a very experienced fighter and someone who was capable of knocking out the lightening quick Khan. The winner of tonight’s fight also would go on to unify the Light Welterweight titles as he would be the IBF and WBA Light Welterweight champion of the world.

In the boxing circles there was also a lot of talk of a potential fight in the near future with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. prior to Kans’s fight against Judah. Mayweather is considered as one of the best boxers in history due to his impressive undefeated fighting record of 41 wins and 0 losses. In an interesting note, Amir Khan is trained by Freddie Roach who also happens to be the trainer for Manny Pacquiao, the seven division world champion and also arguably one of the best fighters of all time. Pacquiao is the only boxer that Mayweather has refused to fight due to one reason or another. A fight that boxing fans around the world have been salivating at for several years now. A potential fight between Khan and Mayweather will need to suffice the fight fans until and if the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight ever materializes. Therefore saying that the ramifications of tonight’s fight are big would be an understatement in the boxing community.

As for me, my love for boxing must have started at an early age when I learned that my father, on a training trip to the United States, met and had a lengthy meeting with the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali. At that time my dad had gone to America in the 70’s on a training course on behalf of his company. While staying at the Hilton hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, he ran into the world heavyweight champion Ali in the lobby where a crowd was hounding the champion.

Instantly recognizing Ali, who surely must be one of the most famous people the world has ever known, my dad reached out to shake his hand and at the same time uttered “Asalaam-alikum” to Ali. Grabbing my father’s hand, Ali replied with “Walikum Asalaam” and asked where my father was from, to which he replied Pakistan.

Intrigued with meeting a Muslim from the East as he later stated to my father, Ali invited him to his penthouse suite where my dad proceeded to spend close to two hours with Ali and his entourage during which time the champ asked him many questions about Pakistan and Islam. In particular, he was interested in how the religion was practiced as compared to the way practiced by the Muslims of the Nation of Islam in America, an organization that Ali was influenced by.

Having heard numerous accounts of his story growing up along with seeing countless pictures of my dad and Ali during their encounter so many years ago, not only endeared me to the champ but also to the sport of boxing. Since then I have always followed boxing and seen many great fights and boxers. But for the first time, my interests in boxing along with many people of Pakistani origins has piqued further by the arrival on the world stage of Amir Khan.

Although he is known as the pride of Bolton in England where he was born, his Pakistani origins are never far away as they are a big part of his life and spirituality since his family hails from Kahuta in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Kahuta which was previously famous for being the site of Pakistan’s main nuclear facility is now also known as the area of Pakistan where Amir’s family originates.

This nation of Pakistan has in the last few years perhaps become synonymous with terrorism, instability, bombings, religious intolerance and extremism. But for one night, the Pakistani people can raise their head with pride and claim Amir as one of their own. He is a product of their soil who is making the country proud during a difficult time in their history. It is also a credit to his native England that promoted an environment for him to train and succeed. There is no limit to the amount of other talent in Pakistan that would have a chance to succeed if only there were such facilities and opportunities in Pakistan or even stability and security that was provided to Khan in England.

There is no doubt that to many people both inside and outside the nation of his forefathers, Amir Khan represents the best of every Pakistani. To these people. whether they are Pakistani Canadians in Toronto, or a youth in the inner streets of Birmingham, UK or a Pakistani American eating paan on Devon St in Chicago, Amir Khan is one of their own.

As he fought and defeated Judah in Las Vegas Saturday night, Amir Khan looked up and saw the thousands of British fans in attendance who had traveled from the UK and were proudly waiving the Union Jack. Deep inside, he must have known that many more millions in Pakistan and across the world were praying and hoping for even greater future success for him as the hopes and dreams of an entire nation are squarely on his able shoulders.

–Manzer Munir, a proud American of Pakistani descent, is the founder of Pakistanis for Peace and blogs at www.PakistanisforPeace.com as well at other websites as a freelance journalist and writer.

2011
07/23
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Amir Khan Can’t Get Floyd Mayweather Out Of His Head

By David Anderson for The Daily Mirror

HE may have taken a couple of wrong turn here and there, but Amir Khan insists he is on track for a 2012 showdown with Floyd Mayweather Junior. Just as Ricky Hatton became obsessed with Pretty Boy, so Khan can’t get him out of his head.

Freddie Roach may have floated the idea of a possible clash between Khan and his pal and gym-mate Manny Pacquiao, but Mayweather is the one he wants.

Khan’s plan was to unify the light-welterweight division against Timothy Bradley in his July 23 date before stepping up to face Mayweather at welterweight next year.

His plan took a hit when Bradley refused to honour their agreement to meet and instead the Bolton fighter will take on IBF champ Zab Judah at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.

Khan says fighting Judah is not too much of a detour from his path towards Mayweather and reckons they could still meet next year.

His new plan is to beat Judah, have one more fight in the autumn before taking on the winner of Mayweather v WBC welterweight champ Victor Ortiz in 2012.

Khan is convinced Mayweather will beat Ortiz on September 17 in what will be his first fight for nearly 18 months and then their paths will finally meet.

“I’m hoping to get Zab Judah out of the way and look good against him, then get one more fight at the end of the year,” Khan said. “Then I’d like to fight the winner of Ortiz-Mayweather, maybe next year.”

Khan could get his wish and Mayweather is currently with his US promoter Golden Boy, which removes one massive hurdle from the negotiations.

As ever with Mayweather, it all comes down to money and if he feels he would get enough from fighting Khan, he will take on the Athens silver medallist.

Khan will have to get in line, though, and there is the small matter of Mayweather v Pacquaio which is still unresolved.

Some of the bitterness between the two camps has gone and that megafight is looking more likely than it has done for 18 months. Khan may have to wait his turn and Pacquiao would love a showdown with Pretty Boy to be his swansong.

Khan can wait and as we keep having to remind ourselves, he’s still only 24.

He’s still developing under Roach’s tutelage at the Wild Card gym and maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he had time to improve even more before facing Mayweather.

2011
06/29
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Khan Enjoys Early Finish

From Sky Sports

Amir Khan retained his WBA light-welterweight title after a controversial technical points decision over Paul McCloskey in Manchester.

The bout was halted during the sixth round after the challenger was deemed unable to continue due to a cut caused by a clash of heads. Khan was a unanimous victor on the scorecards, with all three judges awarding him a comfortable 60-54 win.

McCloskey’s awkward southpaw style meant the champion did not have it all his own way but there was no doubt who was on top at the time of the fight’s premature end.

But after the contest there was protestations from the McCloskey camp that the cut was not bad enough to warrant the stoppage.

The opening stages of the contest were tentative, with Khan looking to come forward but finding his fast hands matched by the reflexes of the previously unbeaten McCloskey.

Khan looked to be more settled in the second as he landed in bunches, but McCloskey stood firm and landed a left of his own at the end of the round. The challenger even had Khan on the back foot at times and caught him with another winging left hand in the third.

Khan began to fire again in the fourth, landing a sharp right and crisp left before attacking with hooks in the early stages of the fifth. McCloskey’s defences seemed to be weakening in the sixth as Khan landed an impressive flurry but the fight was soon over.

After an accidental clash of heads, referee Luis Pabon called for the doctor, who advised the official to bring an end to the bout.

On the undercard, Leicester binman Rendell Munroe made a winning return to action after his unsuccessful world title challenge by claiming a unanimous points win over Andrei Isaeu.

Craig Watson lost his British welterweight title to Lee Purdy the later claimed a fifth-round stoppage win in their contest.

2011
04/17
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Amir Khan Does Enough to Retain Title

By Lance Pugmire for The LA Times

Amir Khan stood on his greatest American stage Saturday, and the fact that he remained standing is why he retained his World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight world title against Marcos Maidana.

Withstanding a brutal 10th-round assault by the tough, hard-hitting Argentine, England’s Khan convincingly answered allegations that he has no chin and otherwise produced a sensational display of speed and flurry punching to win a unanimous decision by scores of 114-111 (judges Jerry Roth and C.J. Ross) and 113-112 (Glenn Trowbridge).

“I’m a boxer, I know I’m going to get hit.” Khan, 24, said in the Mandalay Bay ring. “He’s a strong puncher. I took everything he gave me.”

Khan (24-1) knocked down Maidana in the opening round, unleashing a quick flurry that closed with a hard left to the body that brought an obvious groan of pain from the challenger.

Maidana (29-2), who had knocked out 27 opponents, couldn’t match Khan’s punching or foot speed, but he did catch the Briton of Pakistani heritage often, like in the second round, when he erupted with uppercuts and rights.

Maidana threw 767 punches to Khan’s 603, but landed only 156 to Khan’s 273. Khan won four of the first five rounds on the judges’ scorecards.

Maidana’s response was pressure that backed up Khan in the sixth and seventh rounds, and dimmed some of the champion’s earlier shine.

The eighth and ninth rounds went Khan’s way and he appeared en route to quieting the critics who still bark about his first-round knockout loss in 2008, producing a resilient, entertaining style that the sport has needed from a young star who previously fought in Europe and first came to the U.S. earlier this year.

This was more than that polite introduction; it was an all-out brawl that produced the epic 10th round in which Maidana appeared poised for a knockout in the first minute.

Maidana staggered the champion to the point he was grasping for support from anywhere — a ring rope, referee Joe Cortez, Maidana — to stay upright.

At one point, it appeared tears were coming from Khan’s eyes as Maidana battered him without abandon. All three judges scored the round 10-8 for Maidana, astounding given that Khan was not knocked down.

The sense afterward was that Khan was more thrilled by his display of toughness than his defensive lapses.

“I’m sure everyone watching my fight knows I’ve made mistakes,” Khan said. “But I worked hard and came back stronger than ever. He’s a strong fighter and punches hard. My chin was tested and I proved today I’ve got a chin.”

Maidana couldn’t get Khan in the 11th round, either, and the champion rallied late in the 12th round with impressive combinations, walking with his arms raised into the embrace of trainer Freddie Roach at the bell.

2010
12/12
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Trained by the Best, Amir Khan puts 140-pound Title on the Line

By Bob Velin for Usa Today

The way Amir Khan sees it, he’s spent a lot of time sparring with the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, and is trained by arguably the No. 1 trainer in the world.

So anything that Argentine power puncher Marcos Maidana throws his way Saturday night at the MGM Grand, well, Khan, who puts his 140-pound title on the line (HBO, 9:30 p.m. ET), has already seen it, or will know how to deal with it. You want speed? Few fighters are quicker than Manny Pacquiao, whom Khan sparred with in the Philippines when Pacquiao was training to fight Antonio Margarito in November. Khan says Pacquiao told him, “I’m the fastest guy he’s ever sparred with.”

How about power, Maidana’s forte? We know how Pacquiao re-arranged Margarito’s face that night in Cowboys Stadium last month. Khan’s trainer, Freddie Roach, who is also Pacquiao’s cornerman, says Khan more than held his own against Pacquiao, and, in fact, laid some pretty good licks on the eight-division world champion.

“Yeah, Freddie likes us to spar when we’re both 100%, and when we don’t take it easy on each other,” Khan said by phone last week. “It’s better for me to get that experience and see how far I am from being pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world, which is my ambition. So, yeah, I really did well against Manny, and it was a good, controlled spar. I controlled it when I wanted to control it.”

Maidana says he feels his power can overcome Khan’s speed. “The speed doesn’t bother me because I know I have 12 rounds,” says Maidana. “But I know one thing, when I hit him with one of the my hands, the fight is over.” Khan says Roach has brought out the best in him as a fighter.
“There were times when I used to fight with my heart too much, and I have to use my brains a little bit more,” says Khan. “I’ve got the boxing skills to do that, you know, with the background of the amateurs, and going to the Olympics and everything. Freddie’s taught me to use my brain and think about things more.”

Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) respects the punching power of Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs), but says, “(Maidana’s) a lot slower than me, he’s very predictable and I think somebody’s got to punch him at the right time.” They have one common opponent: Andriy Kotelnik, who handed Maidana his only loss in February 2009, while Khan scored a near shutout victory against Kotelnik in July 2009.

As for Maidana, Khan says he and Roach have worked on the 27-year-old Argentine’s weaknesses and they expect to exploit those weaknesses.
“I think with boxers at that level, they’re always going to (have) their habits. You’re not going to change,” says Khan. “He can try to change his tactics and stuff, but I think his habits are always going to be there. We know exactly what (Maidana) does wrong, and we’ve just got to capitalize on that. We’ve also been working on the stuff I do wrong. I’ll be watching fights with Freddie and I’ll make a lot of mistakes in fights so we’ve been correcting them as well. So (Maidana) can think I make this mistake and that mistake, but he’s going to be fighting a different Amir Khan on the 11th.”

Roach says Khan has changed his style since his shocking first-round knockout by Breidis Prescott as a lightweight in 2008, the only loss of his career, a loss that led some to believe that Khan does not have a strong chin. Roach says he’s a completely different fighter now. “The thing is, he knows how to set things up now,” says Roach. “He just doesn’t go in there and look for a one-punch knockout. He knows how to break a person down and he knows how to work behind his jab and … reach for the body. He’s just become a completely different fighter. We haven’t lost a round since we’ve been together (at the beginning of 2009). I mean, we haven’t lost one round.”

Khan says he expects to stay at 140 pounds for another 12-15 months before he moves up to welterweight. But first there are some outstanding junior welterweights out there he’d like to fight. “You’ve got Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander, there’s a lot of big names in that division,” says Khan, who just turned 24 this week. “Fighting them would be good for boxing, because that’s what people want, people want young fighters to fight (each other). They want explosive fighters instead of fighters past their peak.”

Both Khan and Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which has Khan under contract, say his next fight will probably be in his native England. There had been talk that a good opponent for Khan to rebuild his popularity in England would be undefeated Brit lightweight John Murray (30-0, 18 KOs). Khan says that won’t happen because he and Murray are not on the same level. “I would get a lot of criticism for that because I’m a world-class fighter and he’s on a domestic level,” says Khan. “I want to fight world-class fighters, and I don’t think he’s in that category.”

Khan says when he moves up to welterweight, there’s no way he’d fight Pacquiao because they have become such good friends, and they share the same trainer. However, “with the strength and power and technique I have, I could fight a Floyd Mayweather,” he says.

2010
12/10
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Amir Khan the Ambassador

By Lem Satterfield for Boxing Fanhouse

NEW YORK — WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion Amir Khan had just scored Saturday night’s 11th-round knockout over Brooklyn’s Paulie Malignaggi in the biggest victory of his career.

In doing so, the 23-year-old, 2004 Olympic silver medalist not only out-boxed a pure boxer, but he mixed in an assortment of power shots — namely crisp, counter and over hand rights behind double- and triple-jabs — with a compliment of damaging left hooks and uppercuts.

When the fight was over, the English-born titlist had won the approval of the roaring crowd of more than 4,412 that filled Madison Square Garden’s 5,000 capacity WaMu Theater, and left the trash-talking Malignaggi beaten, battered and bloodied in his own hometown.

Khan had Malignaggi pinned on the ropes and was nailing him with several unanswered blows when referee Steve Smoger came to the rescue, calling a halt to the bout at 1:25 of the round.

“I was nervous, this being my first time in America. And I was walking into the theater, I could hear a lot of boos. But at the end of the fight, they started cheering for Amir Khan because I won them over with my style. I want to make all of my fights like this one,” said Khan, who rose to 23-1, with his 17th knockout and his fourth, consecutive victory.

“It’s my style. I’m explosive. I’m entertaining to watch. I’ve got speed, and I think I made a statement. I think that now there are a lot of American people who are interested in Amir Khan,” said Khan, who was coming off of a December’s first-round knockout of another Brooklyn resident, Dmitry Salita (30-1-1, 16 KOs).

“I’d love to fight some more over here. I want to save some big fights for the United Kingdom,” said Khan. “But I’ve had my American debut, and it’s the best feeling fighting in America. It’s a dream come true. I’d love to go to Las Vegas and have a big fight over there too.”

But as admirable as Khan’s in-the-ring efforts had been against Malignaggi, it is the maturity, poise and grace with which he handled the out-of-the ring distractions that may yet make Khan even more of a cross-cultural, crossover icon.

There was an irony surrounding Khan’s visa issues, which overlapped with the recent actions of alleged Times Square bombing attempt suspect Faisal Shahzad. Together, the two situations caused concern heading into Khan-Malignaggi.

Khan is a practicing Muslim who was born in England, but who is of Pakistani descent, while Shahzad is a native of Pakistan who became a U.S. citizen a year ago.

In early March, long before Shahzad’s actions on May 1, which resulted in a failed attack after he left an SUV rigged with a homemade bombing device in Times Square, Khan and his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, became aware of the fighter’s issues concerning the obtaining of a work visa.

David Itskowitch, chief operating officer of Golden Boy Promotions, said that Khan entered America under the country’s visa waivers program “which, for all intents and purposes,” allows its holder, “a tourist visa, which is good for ‘X’-amount of days.”

“Khan’s status while he was here training was one of a tourist while not earning money,” said Itskowitch. “In order to change your status to someone who is working, you have to leave the country, get a visa, and, then, come back.”

Khan had been holding workouts at Wild Card Boxing Club, in Hollywood, Calif., owned by his trainer, Freddie Roach, a three-time Trainer Of The Year.

But Khan was forced to leave the United States, and has been preparing for his American debut against Malignaggi (27-4, five KOs), while training under Roach in Vancouver, Canada.

“I was in training camp. Then I had to go to Vancouver to get my visa. And my visa took a long time. We had to move the whole training camp there. My head was all over the place, so I had to stay mentally strong,” said Khan, who was not granted the work visa until nine days prior to the fight.

“When I finally got my visa, I had to go back to Los Angeles again, and the, fly to New York. So I was flying a lot. I was traveling all over country, and I got a visa for 23 days that it took me three weeks to get. That could have gotten to me, but I had to work very hard not to let it bother me,” said Khan.

“I have to thank Freddie for flying all over with me,” said Khan. “One thing about Freddie, he looks at his fighters like they’re his kids. He was standing beside me all of the way through, so I have to thank him for that.”

Although Khan laments the notion that suspicion may have been heightened due to the comparisons between himself and Shahzad, he also embraces the opportunity to perhaps be an ambassador.

Khan wants to use his boxing skills to influence American opinion.

“What I want to do in this game is that, you know, I know that a lot of the Pakistani people and the Muslims are getting a bad name in the United States with the bombings and the terrorism and stuff, but not all of us are like that. Look at Amir Khan. I’m an English boxer. I’m one of the faces of boxing,” said Khan.

“And I want to do the same thing that I’ve done in the United Kingdom. I want to put a new face into boxing. I want to bring the Muslim community into boxing. Whenever you’re at an Amir Khan fight, if you come to the United Kingdom and watch me fight, you look into the crowd, and you see all different colors,” said Khan.

“You see the Asian, Chinese, Pakistanis, Muslims — you see everyone. I want to do the same in the United States,” said Khan. “As more people get to know Amir Khan, you’ll see more of that. Hopefully the Americans will love my style and I can do the same here. I want to fill out the stadiums and the arenas like I do in the United Kingdom.”

2010
05/16
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