By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) will finally be faced with the uncomfortable task of having to defend his title against the hard-hitting knockout artist Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) on December 11th, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan has a reputation for having a weak chin, and it’s hard to argue against this when you look at his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott, the only hard hitting opponent that Khan has been put in with during his career.

Khan does well against fighters that can’t punch, but he really fell apart in the Prescott fight. Maidana, depending on who you ask, appears to punch even harder than Prescott. Khan either will be able to take Maidana’ heavy shots or he won’t, but Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach is going to be trying to minimize the amount of times that Khan is hit hard by Maidana. There’s little question that if Maidana is able to connect with his best punch, Khan will go down and probably stay down for the full count.

The gray area is whether Khan can take Maidana’s shots in which he lands with 50% to 75% of his best power, which is still probably harder than Khan has been hit by anyone in his career other than Prescott. Khan is going to be getting hit, but if he can somehow take Maidana’s less than best shots, he obviously will be in a good position to win an easy 12 round decision. Maidana doesn’t have the same hand speed or the same boxing ability as Khan, and I think Maidana would be the first to admit it.

That’s why Maidana is saying that he doesn’t intend on trying to win a decision, because he probably is well aware that he can’t. Besides the fact that he’s much slower and skilled compared to Khan, the judges are likely to favor Khan, the more popular fighter rather than Maidana if the rounds or anywhere close. But Maidana can make up for his lack of boxing ability and raw talent by overpowering Khan with either a number of hard shots or one big punch to the head that Khan can’t take.

If Maidana lands his best shot, Khan is finished. That’s the way I see it. But I think the fight may be decided on whether Khan can take Maidana’s less than best punches, because Khan is likely going to be making it very hard for Maidana to land cleanly due to all the running and leaning backwards that Khan will probably be doing in the fight. It’s going to be like trying to fight an ostrich, who’s hiding his head in the sand. Maidana is going to have to throw punches at every opportunity, and if he can get close to Khan, he needs to load up and try to take advantage of this.