By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan said that he wants to fight his mandatory WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s) next, but the likelihood is that he will be pitted against Australian Michael Katsidis (27-1, 22 KO’s) next. Khan’s promotional team Golden Boy Promotions are interested in putting Khan in with the smaller Katsidis rather than Maidana right now and it’s not hard to see why. Maidana, 5’9”, is closer to the 5’10” Khan’s own size, hits harder and is an incredible puncher and pressure fighter. He can take a heck of a shot and keep coming and would make Khan fight like he never did before.
It wouldn’t be like his fight with Paulie Malignaggi. Khan would have to fight on the move the entire night and hold constantly to stay on his feet. Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach isn’t too impressed with Maidana, and believes that Khan will easily beat him. However, Roach could be overestimating Khan’s chin and ability to take the kind of punishment that Maidana would be dishing out. If this were Roach’s best fighter Manny Pacquiao and not Khan, then he would have an excellent chance of perhaps stopping Maidana in a war.
But Khan’s chin has already been exposed as being fragile. Roach’s experience with Khan has been limited to his fights against non-punchers since he started training him. For that reason, it’s easy to believe that Khan would outbox a fighter like Maidana without any problems. On paper, it works out that way. In real life, it would be a whole different ballgame. Right now, Maidana has a back injury and there would be a question whether he would be available for a fight against Khan anyway, even if his promoters were willing to match Khan with him. If Maidana’s back does suddenly get better, it will be interesting to see if Khan will be permitted to fight Maidana by Golden Boy. My guess is probably not.
Katsidis is the hot hand right now after beating lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell by a 3rd round stoppage last Saturday night. Katsidis showed great power and strategy in that fight and Mitchell played in his hands by trying to slug with him. The 5’10” Khan would have a big speed and reach advantage over Katsidis, and that alone could spell victory for Khan. Katsidis is an excellent pressure fighter, but he’s shorter than Maidana, doesn’t hit quite as hard and doesn’t have as good a chin.
Katsidis also has a lot scar tissue around both eyes and tends to cut easily. If Khan were to fight him standing flat-footed, Katsidis would have a good chance of stopping him once he landed. But Khan would be moving a lot and making it difficult for the short-legged Katsidis to catch up. This is a fight that really is suited for Khan, but it’s somewhat sad that his promoters are looking to match him with a guy a lot smaller than him, especially after all the talk about Khan wanting to fight the best in the light welterweight division. Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander may be busy, but Victor Ortiz isn’t and Maidana might be available depending on how his back is doing. Those are the fights that Khan needs to be going after, not fighters from the lower weight classes. That’s a backwards step for Khan.
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