Amir Khan will make his American debut on May 15 when he defends his WBA light-welterweight title against Paulie Malignaggi.

Khan, Malignaggi and Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya will hold a press conference in London on Friday to officially announce the fight, which will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The showdown was agreed around a month ago but only confirmed officially on Tuesday as loose ends were tied up.

Khan, who won the title from Andreas Kotelnik last summer and defended it spectacularly against Dmitriy Salita in December, will get the opportunity to impress Stateside having joined up with Golden Boy earlier this year.

The 2004 Olympic silver medalist split from leading British promoter Frank Warren to make the move to Golden Boy - in partnership with his own promotional vehicle - and had originally been expected to face classy Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.

However, outspoken New Yorker Malignaggi then emerged as the preferred opponent, with pre-fight hype inflated by a bitter row conducted over the social networking website Twitter.

Golden Boy said: "WBA light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan and former light-welterweight world champion Paulie Malignaggi will hold a press conference in London to announce their world title bout set for Saturday, May 15 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. It will be televised live on HBO's Boxing After Dark in the United States.

"The fight marks Khan's United States debut which will take place in the backyard of New York's Malignaggi."

Malignaggi, a cocky and charismatic ring technician, is well known in Britain having lost to Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas in 2008.

The former IBF champion was beaten by Juan Diaz last year before avenging the defeat to propel himself back into world title contention.

While the slick 29-year-old represents a test for Khan, his notorious lack of punching power will render him the clear underdog against the lightning speed and skill of Bolton fighter Khan.