Amir Khan may get Paulie Malignaggi in New York City

Amir Khan's first fight in the US may come against Paulie Malignaggi in New York city. However, before that can happen HBO plans to have a double header with Khan and Devon Alexander fighting on the same day on March 6th 2010. Khan will likely be fighting in England against someone yet to be named.

In other news, it looks like Juan Manuel Marquez will be fighting Ricky Hatton next. Unless Hatton can convince Oscar De La Hoya to come out of retirement expect Marquez vs Hatton to happen before mid next year. Hatton is currently huge and way overweight. He'll need time to get back into shape. Marquez is still hunting after Manny Pacquiao but will certainly take a big fight with Hatton while Pacquiao settles the pound for pound score with Floyd Mayweather.

Vitali Klitschko beats unheralded American

Heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko defeated American Kevin Johnson yesterday. The Klitschko brothers are lacking a serious challenge and no one expected Johnson to pose a threat at all. David Haye chimed in quickly indicating that Vitali had yet to build a legacy in the boxing having only a loss to Lennox Lewis as a legacy building fight.

Haye will be fighting John Ruiz next year and then look for a fight with one of the Klitschko brothers. The goal being to beat both Klitschkos and be recognized as the undisputed heavyweight champion. For now, the Klitschkos sit atop the heavyweight division until someone can knock them off.

In other action, junior welterweight king Timothy Bradley won a big fight against Lamont Peterson. With Manny Pacquiao out of the division Bradley has to look no further than Amir Khan or Juan Manuel Marquez for potential challengers. His brand value is low so it will be interesting to see where he lands up next.

BJ Penn Dominates Diego Sanchez

BJ Penn proved once again that he was in a different league from his competition. Penn destroyed Diego Sanchez in a fifth round stoppage (due to a severe cut from punishment). Sanchez was not in Penn's league and couldn't do anything to even challenge Penn. Penn's stand up was far superior and Sanchez wasn't anywhere near able to take Penn down. The trouble now is that there is no competition left in the UFC at lightweight for Penn. There is a real challenger outside of the UFC in Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki but it's not clear what would have to happen for those two to get in the ring together. Nonetheless, this was the prodigy's night as he showed his place in MMA history is solid.

In other action, Frank Mir quickly chocked out Cheick Kongo after landing a blistering right hand to put Kongo on the floor. Mir is looking for a rematch with Lesnar and seems to be better than ever after this victory. Kenny Florian also took out Clay Guida in a superb performance earlier in the night.

BJ Penn Gets His Biggest Test at Lightweight against Diego Sanchez Tonight

Diego Sanchez is undefeated at lightweight. BJ Penn is the ruler of the lightweight division and hasn't lost at lightweight for an eternity. Both are very talented. Penn is considered the prodigy of MMA. The fight has the making to be an instant classic. Expect Penn to control the fight but Sanchez will make it interesting. Penn is now focused where he should be - at lightweight. BJ has moved up and down in weight even challenging Lyoto Machida at light heavyweight at one point in his career (and losing a close decision). He seems to be content at ruling the lightweight division for now. Diego Sanchez should provide enough of the challenge needed to keep Penn focused and interested. Don't miss this one.

Dan Henderson signs with Strikeforce

Middleweight MMA star Dan Henderson has finally signed on with Strikeforce after several months of negotiations with both UFC and Strikeforce. It was thought he would re-sign with the UFC where he had been most of his recent career but instead he will now be at Strikeforce and looms large as solid competition for Gegard Moussasi (light heavyweight) and Jake Sheilds (middleweight). Henderson even said he would challenge Fedor Emelianenko at heavyweight. The Strikeforce lineup has now become even stronger. Henderson will get a lot of television exposure as well on CBS. It will definitely be interesting to see a Henderson - Shields or Henderson - Moussasi fight. Both would be amazingly interesting fights at either middleweight or light heavyweight. Henderson said Moussasi is a guy you could be pegged to beat Anderson Silva. Moussasi is widely considered the future star of MMA.

Manny Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather is on for March 13th 2010

It seems from recent news reports that both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have accepted a proposal to fight on March 13th, 2010 at the welterweight limit of 147 lbs. Mayweather had accepted initially and Pacquiao accepted later after a few tweaks according to Bob Arum. I would have thought that Pacquiao aim to have the fight weight limit set at 145 lbs or thereof instead of the full limit given his size disadvantage. Nevertheless, this is a great fight between two of the best fighters in boxing, in fact, the top two pound for pound fighters in the sport today.

The terms of the agreement have not been shared yet and very few details are available. The fight will be contested using 8 oz. gloves which should favor the smaller more powerful Pacquiao and somewhat counteract the weight limit being more favorable to the bigger Mayweather. Pacquiao is running for office in his homeland and will focus on that after the fight which has been said to be the reason for the quick turnaround on the fight. Hopefully, Pacman isn't too distracted with other things while he prepares for Mayweather and recovers from a tough Cotto fight. He'll need to be at 100% to dethrone the undefeated Floyd. This fight is expected to be the richest ever in boxing but without a doubt will be huge. I certainly can't wait.

Khan get first round TKO; Williams wins tight decision

Amir Khan demonstrated blistering speed and power against an outclassed Dimitry Salita. Khan knocked Salita down with a vicious left-right combo at the ten second mark of the fight and never looked back getting a first round TKO. Khan's speed was way too much for Salita and, although, this was an expected end result no one expected it to be this quick. Khan should be a handful for anyone at junior welterweight as he now moves on to spar with Manny Pacquiao to prepare Pacman for his upcoming fight with Floyd Mayweather.

Paul Williams also won his fight against Sergio Martinez earlier today in what was an extremely close fight. Martinez elevated his stock despite losing. The good thing for Williams is that this might entice Kelly Pavlik who has dropped out of scheduled fights with Williams this year.

Amir Khan vs Dmitry Salita Tonight

Amir Khan will defend his junior welterweight title tonight against Dmitry Salita in England. Khan is expected to win easily against a largely untested Salita. Of course, Khan is not taking this tune up lightly with Salita being undefeated. Also on the under card is Breidis Prescott who is taking on an up and coming British lightweight. This looks like a very entertaining card overall so check it out if you can.

Roy Jones KO'd and Hopkins wins easy

Bernard Hopkins beat Enrique Ornelas tonight in a tune up fight. Hopkins easily outpointed the journeyman in a virtual shutout and looked great in the process. Roy Jones, unfortunately, did not have the same result. Jones was knocked out in one round against Danny Green in Australia earlier in the day. It is now very unlikely that Hopkins and Jones will have their rematch early next year. For Hopkins, a change in direction might now be needed. The only obvious fights are against Tomasz Adamek or Chad Dawson. There is also David Haye but he has two committed fights for next year. Certainly, a heavyweight clash with David Haye would be the biggest fight out there. Adamek is probably the safest fight and Dawson is the obvious light heavyweight fight. It's really up to Hopkins on what he decides to do at this point in his career. He's almost 45 years old. Dawson would be the most competitive fight but isn't necessarily the biggest fight for Hopkins.

As for Jones, this was another tough knock out for him. Unfortunately, he couldn't get it done against Green in Australia (which was Green's home country). Not sure Jones wants to continue fighting but I suppose a fight with Hopkins is always possible and would still be a decent draw if he wants it.