By William Mackay: Before the fight is even signed there’s already trouble brewing in the negotiations between World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) and WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s). According to thesun.co.uk, Khan’s business manager Asif Vali is complaining that the 27-year-old Maidana want’s close to $1 million to fight Khan in their proposed fight on December 11th. Vali says “Amir is just being used as a cash cow. Mention his name and the money goes through the roof. As promoters we have to make the figures work and that means Maidana has to come down. I’m sick that every time Amir’s name is mentioned everything is doubled, quadrupled or multiplied by six times. It’s crazy. Where do they think the money is coming from? They seem to think Amir Khan has a bottomless put to pay out stupid money.”

I don’t like the way this sounds. I can see an excuse coming on for Khan so that he doesn’t have to fight Maidana and possibly get knocked out and have his career ruined. Khan, whose chin isn’t the best, hasn’t been in with a big puncher like Maidana since Khan was knocked out in one round by Breidis Prescott in 2008. A loss for Khan right here would do huge damage to his career and probably finish him as an HBO fighter. He could obviously still come back from a loss to Maidana, but Khan would have to be kept away from similar big punchers for eons to ensure that Khan isn’t knocked out again. But what’s the point then?

If Khan is going to be protected and matched against powder puff fighters for two years or so, the public is going to catch on and tune out. Like I said, khan hasn’t been in with a big puncher since being knocked out by Prescott and he now has a lot of boxing fans convinced that he’s the real deal. Khan may be able to duplicate that feat if and when Maidana knocks him into the next stratosphere on December 11th. However, I can smell and excuse coming on for Khan not to have to face the horrible potential of being knocked out by Maidana. The ‘he wants too much money’ excuse will be enough for some fans. God, I’m wrong about this but I can see the early warning signs of this fight not getting made.

As if to give proof to my fears, Vali says “Sometimes it can be better not to fight…Maidana’s demands are very high.” There it is. It’s the shot across the bow, the early warning sign that this fight won’t get made. This is so sad.