By Jonathan Shrager

Former two division champion Paulie Malignaggi broke down a potential British blockbuster between Amir Khan and IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook. There are plenty of links between these three fighters.

Khan stopped Malignaggi in the eleventh round of their 2010 clash in New York City, which was Khan's debut in the United States.  

Brook captured the title from Shawn Porter, who scored a brutal knockout over Malignaggi. Porter had beaten Devon Alexander to get the IBF title, and last month Khan dominated Alexander over twelve rounds.

"Regarding Amir vs Kell, I could make a good case for both fighters. I’ve always stated that Amir is a very difficult guy to fight if you’re a boxer. It’s very tough to time Amir. You have to brawl with Amir, you have to make it physically grueling for him and implement a dirtier type of fight to break up his rhythm and routine. Another boxer could have nightmares against him, because he’s technically superior, plus he’s athletically gifted with a long reach. So stylistically you may presume that Amir isn’t a good matchup for Kell, given that Kell is also a technician. But Kell is a natural welterweight, the naturally bigger guy, and he can punch hard with a sense of timing," Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com. 

"One thing I’ve noticed about Amir; one of the main reasons why boxers don’t have much success against him is because it’s the wide shots, as opposed to the short shots, that bother him. Maidana caught him with a wide, looping shot, and Garcia and Prescott knocked him out with one. Amir doesn’t really have trouble with straight, short shots, which are the shots that boxers tend to throw more of. It’s the less proper punches that will trouble Amir."

"One thing I’ve noticed about Kell’s style is that he has a very good counter left hook, check left hook that he throws with power. You cannot just rush in at Kell, because if he can hurt you with that. This lends the fight that surprise element, because Amir does rush in at times and could walk into a hook like that. Simultaneously, Amir is a boxer’s nightmare, so there’s a case for both guys. I think it would be an amazing fight in the UK and on a worldwide stage between two of the world’s best fighters currently."

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