By Jason Kim: Now that Juan Manuel Marquez has decided to stay at lightweight and fight WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis instead of Amir Khan, this leaves World Boxing Association light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s) in an ideal position to get a big money fight against Khan on December 11th, provided that Maidana gets by his opponent this Saturday night, former World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion DeMarcus Corley (37-13-1, 22 KO’s) in their 12 round fight at the Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina.

This is a fight that the 28-year-old Maidana can’t afford to take lightly because Corley can still punch if nothing else and could give Maidana problems if he’s not on his game. Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters for both Khan and Maidana, were really looking forward to matching Khan up with 37-year-old lightweight Marquez. However, Marquez took the air out of their plans earlier today by deciding to stay at lightweight and defend his title against Michael Katsidis rather than moving up in weight and possibly risk losing to the younger and taller Khan. It’s a wise move by Marquez, because he’s looking to get a huge money fight against Manny Pacquiao and he can’t afford to lose a much smaller money fight against Khan and end his hopes of a fight with Pacquiao.

Maidana has been chasing Khan for a year now and he’s probably relieved that he now appears to be on course to fight the British fighter after all this time. Khan is already a heavy favorite to beat Maidana even though the fight is still in the distant future and not yet a certainty. Most people assume that Khan will use his jab and elect to move around the ring all night long to avoid Maidana’s huge shots. That may turn out to be the case. However, Maidana’s last opponent Victor Cayo tried to use a similar strategy against him and it failed miserably when Maidana was able to cut off the ring on Cayo and force him into exchanges near the ropes.

Khan may find himself forced to fight against Maidana and if Khan’s chin isn’t any better than it was in his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008, he’ll be counting stars against Maidana. This will be the first fight in two years for Khan in which he’s fought a fighter with any kind of power. Maidana is at the upper extremes in the power scales, a bigger puncher than Prescott. Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach thinks that Khan’s chin has gotten better. Let’s hope he’s right.