Fighters brawl at weigh-in

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Junior welterweight champion Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi have been trading verbal jabs for weeks, and their mutual dislike escalated into a shoving match during their weigh-in at a hotel ballroom Friday.

They’ll finally exchange blows on tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Khan will be defending his WBA version of the title in his first fight in the United States, taking on former IBF titleholder Malignaggi just across the East River from his home in Brooklyn. The fight is expected to sell out the Garden’s smaller theater.

If promoters were having any trouble selling tickets, they got some help from the near-brawl that took place between the fighters’ camps Friday at the Essex House.

Both had made the 140-pound limit and turned to face each other for the traditional stare-down photo opportunity. They began arguing and briefly touched heads before they started pushing each other, and several dozen people began to rush the small stage.

No punches were thrown and the room was eventually cleared out.

“Here’s where things get dicey,” said Malignaggi’s promoter, Lou DiBella. “Will it sell more tickets? Maybe. But honestly, from my standpoint I was scared. I’ve been in this 20 years now, and I was still scared when that was going on.”

DiBella was incensed that a weigh-in that was supposed to be closed to the public wound up with about a hundred supporters for Khan, the former Olympic silver medalist from Britain. There were only a couple dozen people from Malignaggi’s team in attendance.

“It was disgraceful,” DiBella said. “When they weighed in, they charged the stage, and I don’t think Khan knew it was happening behind him. I think he thought it was Paulie’s people. It was Khan’s followers, and Khan shoved Paulie, and it was a dangerous scene.”

It’s unclear whether any fines or suspensions will result from incident.