By Scott Gilfoid: Knockout artist Marcos Maidana (27-1, 26 KO’s) is very confident about his chances at beating World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan in the future. In press release sent out yesterday, the 26-year-old WBA light welterweight interim champion Maidana said this about Khan: “He will not be able to resist my power, and if he is, then I am prepared to win on points. Khan wouldn’t like to face me at this moment. That shows his intelligence.” Gosh, I have to agree with Maidana.

Khan is intelligent. I think Maidana would absolutely destroy Khan within a round or two if given the chance. Khan’s chin would take a royal battering by the hard shots from Maidana, and I think he’d be in reverse gear all night long, running for survival. It would be nice to see how he’d react with the kind of pressure and power that Maidana would be putting on him. I think it would a massive retreat from round one on.

The only way I see Khan surviving for long in this fight is if he literally sprints around the ring for 12 rounds. Even that probably wouldn’t work for him, because I think Maidana catch up to him at some point in the fight and blast him down with some massive shots to the head.

Maidana faces the unbeaten Victor Cayo (24-0, 16 KO’s) next Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cayo, 25, may turn out to be a lot tougher opponent for Maidana than Khan. Cayo is 5’11”, very hard to hit because of his crafty defensive style of fighting, throws a lot of punches and has decent power. He’s kind of like a slow and smaller version of Roy Jones Jr. He’s very hard to beat, and I’m not sure that Maidana will beat him. I think Cayo will win on points in this fight.

But I the weird thing is, I think Khan beats Cayo because of his better hand speed. As they say, styles make fights. Cayo will be very tough for Maidana because he won’t just stand and trade with him all night long. He’ll move, make Maidana chase after him and pick him off with counter punches. It’s an ugly style to watch, there’s no question, but its’ effective.

If Cayo had more power and speed he’d be something special. But he’s blinding fast and lacks big power. I can see him taking of punishment in the Maidana fight but coming out on top with a decision. Maidana does well against fighters that come at him at and try to trade.

Cayo won’t be doing that. He’ll stay on the outside with his hands low, bending backwards to avoid Maidana’s shots whenever he tries to land anything. Where I can see Maidana having his moments is when they get in close. Maidana has short arms, and is able to generate enormous amounts of powers even when only a short distance away. If he can get close to Cayo, I can see him hurting him with something and either putting him down or making the fight close.