Amir Khan / Photo © Marty Rosengarten / Ringsidephotos.com

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Andrew Fruman recaps Saturday night's HBO 140lb double-header.

It wasn’t a good night for the veterans at Madison Square Garden, as two of the stacked 140lb division’s young guns scored decisive victories over their vastly more experienced counterparts.

Amir Khan was the most impressive performer of the night, smacking Paulie Malignaggi around for ten and a half rounds before Steve Smoger finally stepped in to end the one sided battering.  The time was 1:25 of round 11.

Khan was just too quick and accurate, raking the hometown fighter with sharp right hands from start to finish, while winning the battle of the jabs as well. The Magic Man showed spirit, especially early, but never looked a possible winner and at the time of the stoppage, Khan had won every round in convincing fashion.

Victor Ortiz easily handled Nate Campbell in the opener, although did so in a relatively cautious manner, moving laterally on the outside while picking his spots to plan his feet and rip shots.

Ortiz scored the only knockdown of the evening, dropping Campbell with a cuffing right hook at the very end of the opening round.  Campbell was up immediately and the punch didn’t look particularly damaging, certainly nowhere near as heavy as some of the thudding lefts landed by Vicious Victor over the remaining nine rounds.

Campbell absorbed it all and kept coming, though the intensity of his forward march waned as the rounds wore on. The Galaxy Warrior managed to close the distance at times, and occasionally did some decent body work, but found it difficult to get off, and was beaten to the punch over and over again by his bigger fresher opponent.

The scores were 100-89 twice, and 99-90.

Overall, it was not a particularly satisfying show. The one sided nature of both fights took the drama out of the evening, as neither Campbell (granted, Nate was only a slight underdog, but the man we saw tonight looked very much a spent force) or Malignaggi appeared to have the goods to truly test the more talented youngsters. With so much quality at 140 pounds, let’s hope we see both Ortiz and Khan step up against the division's elite next time out. Khan certainly sounded willing to get it on with some bigger threats, stating during the post-fight interview that he’d like to get big hitting Marcos Maidana in the ring.

A possible four man tournament was suggested, with Bradley fighting Alexander in the other bout. The idea sounds very appealing from a fan perspective, though one would imagine Golden Boy would like Victor Ortiz involved if such an event did materialize.

However they're paired up, we should have some very interesting fights to look forward to.

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