By Eric Thomas: HBO analyst Max Kellerman gave a mini speech at the end of Saturday’s broadcast between WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s) vs. Victor Cayo (24-1, 16 KO’s) at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In that fight, Maidana walked through a storm of punches from Cayo in the first five rounds to end the fight suddenly in the 6th round with a powerful right hand to the body of Cayo that put him down for the count.

Maidana is someone that World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan was supposed to fight. However, both Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach and his promoters Golden Boy Promotions, didn’t want Khan to face the hard-hitting Maidana for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is because they say that Maidana isn’t well known enough for Khan to fight him at this time.

The idea here is for Maidana to fight more on HBO, and then provided that Maidana keeps winning, he’ll get a shot against Khan sometime in 2011. In the meantime, Khan will stay busy himself against opponents selected by Roach and Golden Boy Promotions. Khan fights next against the light-hitting Paulie Malignaggi on May 15th.

After Maidana finished putting Cayo away on Saturday night, Kellerman, turning the cameras, had this to say about Khan and Maidana: “Amir Khan is a very talented fighter, a super talented fighter, and has a great trainer in Freddie Roach. Khan could be the most talented 140 pound fighter in the world, but he’s been knocked out in one round by a fair to midland prospect contender [Breidis Prescott]. And Maidana is a tremendous puncher, and as we saw tonight, a pure puncher. Freddie Roach is a great trainer…He is also a good matchmaker, knowing who to take on and who to avoid with his fighters. It’s not a coincidence; it’s not an accident that Freddie Roach wanted Amir Khan to avoid this guy [Maidana] tonight, and instead fight Paulie Malignaggi, a fantastic boxer, but not a puncher at all. If Maidana keeps punching like this, eventually the top guys are going to have to fight him.”

Maidana will continue to be matched tough in the future. He could be facing IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander next. If Maidana loses that fight, the chances of a Khan-Maidana fight are down the drain. This is unfortunate because Maidana should have been able to fight Khan ages ago given that he’s the interim WBA champion and shouldn’t have to fight for a year on HBO against an assortment of tough opponents before he gets a shot against Khan.