Maidana says he’ll study Khan for a few rounds and adjust to his style

By Boxing News - 12/09/2010 - Comments

Image: Maidana says he'll study Khan for a few rounds and adjust to his styleBy William Mackay: WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) plans on making adjustments to the style of World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan has the speed advantage over Maidana, and will no doubt be trying to use it by throwing fast shots and getting away before Maidana has a chance to throw back at him. It’s going to be a real test to see if Maidana can cut off the ring and force Khan to slug it out with him like he wants him to.

In an article at the telegraph.co.uk, Maidana said “I’ll study Khan in the ring for a couple of rounds and adjust to his style. The fight could go many ways.”

Maidana will have to fight much more in the way that he did against Victor Ortiz and not the way he did in his fights against Andriy Kotelnik and DeMarcus Corley if he wants to win. In the Ortiz fight, Maidana went right at him and forced him to fight it out by landing huge shots. It worked because Ortiz literally had to fight or get taken out, which is what happened anyway. In the Corley and Kotelnik fights, Maidana didn’t pressure them nearly enough and instead mostly limited his attacks. It was the wrong way to fight those guys and it let both of them hang around and make it to the final bell. Had Maidana really pressured these guys like he did Ortiz, it’s hard to imagine that they would have made it through the 12th round. Maidana must go right at Khan and force him against the ropes to take him out. He can’t let Khan work on the outside with his jab.

Maidana’s trainer Miguel Diaz seems to know what Maidana needs to do to beat Khan, saying “Marcos has to apply pressure and not let Khan find his rhythm and set the pace.”

Diaz is right. Maidana needs to go after Khan and not let him rest for a second. Khan looked exhausted in his last fight against the weak punching Paulie Malignaggi, even though Malignaggi was letting Khan dictate the pace of the fight. Maidana needs to make Khan use his batteries so that he can wear him down and take him out with one of his huge right hand shots.



Comments are closed.