By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) supposedly has built up a better punch resistance since moving up to the light welterweight division, at least that’s what Khan’s biggest supporters have been saying. Frankly, I think it’s hogwash. I don’t believe a fighter’s chin can improve over time. If anything, it gets worse as they take more and more punishment. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if Khan wasn’t facing knockout artist Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) in his next fight on December 11th, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Khan’s chin, if it hasn’t improved since he was flattened like a pancake by Breidis Prescott in 2008, he’s going to be knocked out quickly by the hard hitting Maidana. It’s fair to say that Khan is going to be under a constant bombardment from Maidana from the opening bell and it won’t end until either Khan laid out or Maidana is stretched out on the canvas. This is a one way trip. Maidana is going to be loading up with everything he throws.

If you thought that Maidana had a tendency to throw a lot of power shots in his previous fights, it’s going to be nothing compared to the power shots he’s going to be trying to land in this fight. It’s like he’s playing rockem-sockem robots with Khan and he knows that if he hits him just right, he’s going to knock Khan’s block off. Heck, Maidana may not even need to land one of his shots perfectly to knock Khan out, because he hits so hard and Khan’s chin is so fragile. It’s like fine china, and you have to treat it with a lot of care to keep it from breaking.

Well, Khan’s chin has been protected and treated with the utmost care in his last five fights since the Prescott fiasco. Khan has been matched up with nothing but powder puff punchers since the loss to Prescott, and he hasn’t had to worry about being knocked out again. Maidana, however, is an animal of a puncher and he may knock Khan out with just a glancing blow. Maidana is able to throw with a tremendous amount of power at close range or a distance.

It doesn’t matter if he’s out of position and being held. He can still throw these lethal short punches that are very hard to take unless you have a good chin. The last time I checked, Khan doesn’t fall into that category of having a good chin. I think he’s in big trouble against Maidana. His trainer Freddie Roach may have to instruct Khan to literally run for 12 rounds and never stop running to save him from getting knocked out in this fight.