By William Mackay: It’s been two good years since Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) was last viciously knocked out by Breidis Prescott in September 2008. Khan has now won his last bouts since then, albeit against weak punchers all of them. On December 11th, Khan will be facing WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s), a fighter that appears to punch even harder than Prescott. Khan’s fans and some boxing experts feel that Khan will be able to avoid getting hit at all for 12 rounds by moving around on the outside and using his jab. On December 11th, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Maidana will be getting a big chance to prove whether Khan is for real or not.

I’m not so sure I agree with that. My guess is Khan will get hit and probably quite a bit. If you look at Maidana’s fights with Victor Ortiz and Victor Manuel Cayo, there were times in both of those fights that Maidana had to chase them down in order to land his shots. Maidana did an excellent job of closing the distance in seconds by running after them. He didn’t plod after them; He actually ran and caught up to both.

I think if Khan moves side to side for 12 rounds, he’s going to get caught by Maidana over and over again. Khan is going to have to fight Maidana up close and against the ropes. Khan’s fans have a theory, which is proven yet, about Khan’s chin having gotten better now that he’s not struggling to make the 135 pound weight limit for lightweight. They think that since Khan has moved up to light welterweight that his chin has gotten better. Since Khan has been in with nothing but light punchers since being knocked out by Prescott, it’s impossible to know how he’ll do against a fighter like Maidana.

All we have to go on is his past history of being hurt when hit hard. I think being put in with light punchers may have given the illusion that Khan’s chin has improved, but in reality he may be just as weak-chinned as before. Enzo Maccarinelli, the former WBO cruiserweight champion, looked great against punchers, but he was knocked cold once again when they finally put him with a big puncher in Alexander Frenkel recently. It could be the same way for Khan. He looks great against Paulie Malignaggi, a weak puncher, but he could be in trouble against Maidana.

I think Khan will do reasonably well in the opening round, but once Maidana gets warmed up and angry, Khan is going to be fighting for his life. I see him quickly losing composure and falling apart under the huge pressure that Maidana will no doubt be putting on him. The Las Vegas crowd will be cheering each huge shot that Maidana lands. This in turn will give him even more confidence to attack Khan and chop him down in close. I think Maidana is going to ruin Khan’s career on December 11th, and take away his dreams of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr.