By William Mackay: World Boxing Association interim light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (27-1, 26 KO’s) is gunning for a fight with WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan, according to news from Boxing Scene. Maidana, 26, was previously looking at a fight against WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander in March, in a fight that would have likely been shown on HBO. However, Maidana instead is looking to get a fight with Khan. The WBA, Rick Reeno says, ordered that the winner of Khan’s December 5th bout against Dmitriy Salita would have to face Maidana, the interim champion, next.

And with Khan destroying Salita in one brutal round, he would then, by virtue of his victory, be looking at the unpleasant prospect of facing the knockout artist Maidana. It’s doubtful that Khan will be overjoyed at having to fight Maidana if this bout is forced on him, because his management team were looking at different options other than Maidana.

Former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi was one of the names that has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Khan by Amir’s trainer Freddie Roach. Malignaggi has little power, and would likely be not much of a threat to dent Khan’s shaky chin. Malignaggi is also much better known than Maidana with casual boxing fans, and Khan would have the benefit of facing a known fighter.

If Maidana is forced on Khan as an opponent, it’s unclear what Amir will do in that case. There has been speculation that Khan will choose to vacate his WBA light welterweight title rather than choosing to defend it against the hard hitting Maidana if he has no other choice. Khan was knocked flat in the 1st round last year by Colombian knockout artist lightweight Breidis Prescott in September 2008.

Khan hasn’t fought a rematch with Prescott to attempt to avenge that defeat. Maidana looks even more powerful than Prescott, and is much more accurate with his punches compared to the Colombian. Maidana doesn’t throw big looping punches like Prescott, and doesn’t need to wind up to get a lot of power on his shots. Maidana is able to get tremendous power even when throwing short punches. However, he doesn’t move nearly as well as Khan, and doesn’t have great hand speed.

There’s a good chance that Khan would be able to out-box Maidana from the outside much like former WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik was able to do with his controversial 12 round split decision win over Maidana in February. However, even in that fight, Kotelnik took a lot of punishment from Maidana, and had to depend on his chin in getting him through the fight.

Many people thought that Maidana won the fight, which took place in Germany. Khan wouldn’t be able to run from Maidana all night long. Sooner or later, Maidana would catch up to Khan and test his chin. This wouldn’t be one of Khan’s early knockout wins because Maidana has a decent chin.

As for Alexander, he may be fighting a unification bout against IBF light welterweight champion Juan Urango in March. Alexander isn’t happy that Maidana has backed away from a fight with him, saying “If Maidana is cared, bring on Urango. I want to unify the division anyway, so why not start with Urango.” You can’t blame Maidana, though, for wanting to fight the full WBA light welterweight champion Khan, because that’s where the money would be and the fan interest.

Urango, 29, is coming off of an 11th round knockout over Randall Bailey in August. Before that, Urango lost a lopsided 12 round decision to WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. Urango would figure to have his hands full in a fight against the boxer-puncher Alexander. Although Urango is good at wearing down his opponents with his heavy pressure and hard shots, he’s not nearly as mobile at Alexander and will likely have problems against him.