Maidana’s manager: We want Khan but he keeps refusing

By Boxing News - 03/10/2015 - Comments

maidana578By Scott Gilfoid: Former two division world champion Marcos Maidana wants a rematch with Amir Khan, but he’s been unable to get the 28-year-old fighter to agree to fight him again.

Khan defeated Maidana by a 12 round decision in 2010 in a fight in which Khan took a severe beating. Maidana has wanted a rematch ever since with Khan, but he’s not been able to get Khan to agree to a second fight. Khan has seemingly acted like it was an easy fight for him despite the fact that he was badly hurt in the last three rounds of the fight.

Khan was quite fortunate to get the victory given the amount of punishment he absorbed in the fight.

“We’re wasting our time because every time we request a rematch, he always refuses,” said Maidana’s manager Sebastian Contursi via Fighthype. “If you analyze every time Khan goes through the media, he never mentions Marcos Maidana, he obviously doesn’t want that fight. If he wants that fight, all he has to do is call Al Haymon.”

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Well, Khan needs an opponent for his May 23rd fight, and if he takes on a lesser guy like one of the many obscure contenders ranked in the top 15, then he’s going to look bad.

If you look at the guys that Khan has fought recently it’s not likely that he’d want to mix in a big puncher like Maidana. Khan has beaten little Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz [via a controversial decision in London], Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander. None of those guys are big punchers.

It would be in Khan’s best interest if he were to fight Maidana right now, because he could show boxing fans the difference between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. We saw the problems that Maidana was able to give Mayweather in two fights.

We also saw how Maidana was able to defeat Mayweather clone Adrien Broner in their fight in December 2013. If Khan were to fight Maidana and beat him soundly, then Khan could brag that he would give Mayweather or Broner a tough time. But with Khan not having faced a live body in three years, he’s really not in the position to brag about how he deserves a fight against Mayweather after his recent wins.

Maidana is getting married next month, and he’s interested in facing WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia or Khan. The Garcia fight is the better option for Maidana, because it’s a fight that has a better chance of taking place.

Maidana wants to avenge the loss of his fellow countryman Lucas Matthysse, who was beaten by Garcia by a 12 round unanimous decision in September 2013. That was a fight where Matthysse was doing quite well in the first half of the fight, but the fight turned around after Matthysse suffered an eye injury in the second half of the fight.

“We are targeting Danny Garcia because that’s the biggest fight,” Contursi said. “He has something in his blood, the way he beat my fellow countrymen, Lucas Matthysse; he wants to take revenge for Lucas.”

I would be surprised if Garcia chooses to fight Maidana, because that would be an even tougher fight for him than the Matthysse fight.



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