Khan hopes to make name for himself in America

Like so many boxers before him, Amir Khan has arrived in the United States seeking the twin pillars of success: fame and fortune. The junior welterweight champion from Britain is armed with a charming personality, natural charisma, 24-karat smile and an almost unparalleled ability to throw a stiff right cross. Yet none of that matters here, at least not yet. Because even though Khan is well known in Europe, where he's fought his entire career, he is starting all over in America. His fight Saturday night on HBO against Paulie Malignaggi would have filled the biggest arenas in London, but only about 7,000 fans will squeeze into the small theater at Madison Square Garden to see him defend his title.

The 23-year-old former Olympian also knows it won't be easy. That much became clear when it took several weeks and a trip to Canada just to get the paperwork to fight in the US. He'd been preparing with trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles under a tourist visa, but his application for one that would have allowed him to work was ensnared in red tape. Khan went to the British consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia, to expedite the process, but he was constantly stonewalled by the Department of Homeland Security. “I knew he was going to get it, I just didn't know when,” Roach said of the visa. Neither did his promoters, nor the executives at HBO, who grew more nervous as the days melted away. It reached the point where the fight was only a day or two from being called off. Then the news came Friday that Khan's work visa had been approved, without any reason given for the delay. He assumes it had something to do with his Pakistani heritage — his grandparents migrated from the Punjab province to England in the 1950’s — and the investigation linking the Pakistani Taliban to the recent failed Times Square bombing.