By CompuBox

More often than not, the sport of boxing worships at the altar of youth while harboring little regard for its elders.

Amir Khan and Victor Ortiz are rising 23-year-old junior welterweights who continued their rise toward stardom by sweeping past 29-year-old Paul Malignaggi and 38-year-old Nate Campbell respectively. They won nearly every moment of their combined 21 rounds of work Saturday night and they couldn’t have picked a much better place than Madison Square Garden to prove their wares.

Each achieved their objectives in a similar manner; by utilizing lively legs, sharp punching and command of pace against their more experienced rivals.

“King Khan” ruled the main event with excellent accuracy in all categories against the usually elusive Malignaggi. He connected on 39.7 percent of his overall punches (259 of 653) to Malignaggi’s 127 of 531 (24 percent) and 38 percent of his power punches (108 of 284) to the “Magic Man’s” 27.9 percent (70 of 251).

Most significantly, Khan possessed a busy, pinpoint jab as he nearly tripled Malignaggi’s connects (151 to 57) while out-throwing the New Yorker 369 to 280. His 30.8 jabs per round is nearly 21 percent more than the typical junior welterweight average of 24.8 while Malignaggi, usually a busy jabber, was kept to 23.3 per round. Khan landed an average of 15 jabs per round- THREE TIMES THE JR. WELTERWEIGHT AVG.!! Better yet for the Brit, Khan’s jab landed at a 41 percent rate to Malignaggi’s 20 and the defending champ registered double-digit connects in every round save for the truncated 11th.

A final measure of Khan’s command is that of a possible 33 sets of numbers in an 11-round fight tracked by CompuBox, Khan out-performed Malignaggi in 32 of them. Malignaggi’s only lead was in power connects in round four (15-11).

The PunchZone statistics amplified Khan’s head-heavy attack as 223 of his 259 connects hit Malignaggi’s face. Of those, Khan’s left netted 62 connects, his right landed 70 times while straight punches with either hand hit Malignaggi’s chin on 91 occasions. Of his 36 body connects, the right hand produced 23 while the left logged 13.

Malignaggi’s offense also was head-oriented as 87 of his 127 connects were targeted there. Amazingly, only one of them struck Khan’s chin while his left landed 55 times and his right 31 times. His 40 body connects saw the right land 25 times and the left 15. Neither man registered a low blow.

Ortiz’s domination of Campbell was less overt numerically but the lopsided scores in his favor were reflective of the action inside the ring. Averaging 50.3 punches per round, Ortiz went 122 of 503 (24 percent) overall while Campbell’s 43.5 per round resulted in a 71 of 435 (16 percent) performance. Both men’s jabs were painfully anemic as Campbell went 19 of 211 (9 percent) to Ortiz’s 13 of 184 (7 percent). Ortiz won the fight largely on his power shots as he more than doubled Campbell’s connects (109 of 319, 34 percent to 52 of 224, 23 percent).

In total punches and power shots, Ortiz prevailed in 19 out of a combined 20 rounds with Campbell’s 8-7 edge in first round connects serving as the lone wolf. In terms of output, Campbell was a far cry from the 95.4 punch-per-round whirlwind that dethroned Juan Diaz a little more than two years ago or even the 53.4 punch-per-round fighter who turned back Ali Funeka 15 months earlier. Ortiz’s movement and precision prevented Campbell – who happens to be a grandfather – from pulling the trigger.

The PunchZone stats indicate balanced attacks by both. Of Ortiz’s 121 total connects, 103 targeted the head. The southpaw left struck Campbell 45 times, the right 46 times and 12 connects were to the chin. Of his 18 landed body shots, the left netted 11 hits and the right seven.

Campbell’s 45 total head connects were perfectly in synch as he registered 15 connects in all three zones. Of his 26 body connects, the right struck 15 times and the left 11.