When Paulie Malignaggi (27-4, 5 KOs) got into a shoving match with Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) at the weigh-in before their title fight, I bet few would have thought that would be the most action that Malignaggi would show for the weekend. The trash-talking Malignaggi had promised great things from himself in his fight with Khan, but ultimately could not put his money where his mouth was, and Khan walked out still the WBA World Light Welterweight Champion.

During the third round Amir did suffer a couple of cuts in the crease above his left eye but they were never a factor. It was evident when looking at the appearance of each fighter after every round which one was taking those punches with their face. Khan was the obvious ring general who seemed to hit Paulie whenever he wanted to.

Khan came out firing and never stopped, and Paulie had no answers for his assault. In the fourth round it looked as if Malignaggi might have figured his opponent out, but it was never really enough, and made no difference to Khan. As the Malignaggi corner was showing their frustration as the rounds progressed, the Khan leader was getting quieter. There weren’t really a lot of words necessary for Freddie Roach to say to his fighter; their game plan was obviously working perfectly.

Stopping the fight came into question before the tenth round, and then with more seriousness before round eleventh. Referee Steve Smoger asked the corner if they wanted to go on, with both Paulie and his corner saying they did. He then had the doctor come over and look at Malignaggi. The eleventh round started, but it was obvious from watching him that Smoger was ready to jump in and stop it at any moment. And at 1:25 of that round he did just that.

Should the fight have been stopped before that? That is always a debate. To be honest, I thought Smoger did a really good job in there. But the question does arise that there was nothing to be gained from the Malignaggi corner letting Paulie go the distance. Well, maybe pride, but nothing good can come from letting a fighter who does not have a knockout punch and has lost every round, add an extra two rounds of beat-down.
 

The other fight that was televised was between Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 21 KOs) and Nate Campbell (33-6-1, 25 KOs). A very one-sided fight, even more than the main event. It was hard at times to tell if Ortiz fought that good a fight or if the aging and slow Campbell was just that bad. Fifteen years his junior, Victor played with Nate like a dog with a bone. Campbell was down in the first, a call that could have gone either way. But that did not matter in the end, as Ortiz convincingly won every round of the scheduled 10. The 10-8 score in round one really made no difference at all.

It is time for both these fighters to step up a bit. Let’s see if they are as strong as they showed on Saturday or their opponents were that weak. Khan and Ortiz are both young and healthy. The time is now.