By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) believes he can punch as hard as his opponent Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 Ko’s), who Khan will be facing on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the press conference yesterday, Khan had this to say about fighting Maidana: “We know exactly what to do and how to beat him. People say he [Maidana] is a big hitter, but I hit just as hard with speed. I think I am going to come in as a bigger puncher. I have the power to put him down.” I kind of doubt it. Khan has always been a slapper. He doesn’t produce knockouts from a single punch like Maidana. Most of Khan’s knockouts come from throwing flurries against B level opposition.

Khan hasn’t stopped a quality fighter yet. Khan’s win over Marco Antonio Barrera was a technical decision due to head butt. The win over Dmitri Salita was against a fighter that I thought didn’t belong in the 1st tier, and Khan’s win over Paulie Malignaggi came against a fighter that is pretty not even relevant anymore in the light welterweight division. For Khan to show that he has power that is in the same league as Maidana, he would have to sit down on his punches a lot more because I haven’t seen anything from Khan that would suggest that he’s anything more than a slapper. Khan robs himself of power by throwing flurries and by moving a lot.

He didn’t used to move a lot, but his new trainer Freddie Roach has him circling the ring in his fights and throwing lots of jabs. That’s probably what Khan meant when he said “we know” how to beat Maidana. The way to beat Maidana is to use movement, jab and not to punch with him. This is the mistake Victor Ortiz made in his fight with Maidana last year. He tried to slug with him and got stopped in the 6th round. What makes Maidana so powerful isn’t that he has huge one punch power. It’s because he can punch with excellent power with every shot he throws, even when he’s off balance and in close proximity with his opponents.

Maidana is able to put a lot of power on all of his shots. That makes him dangerous. His high pressure style of fighting and high work rate make him even more dangerous. He never stops coming forward and doesn’t look to run like Khan did in his fight with Andriy Kotelnik. That’s why Maidana will always be a much better puncher than Khan. It’s kind of silly for Khan to compare himself to Maidana in that department because Khan is a finesse fighter, and he’s in the process of becoming an even more finesse oriented fighter under his trainer Roach.

Freddie doesn’t want Khan mixing it up with his opponents unless he’s certain that Khan can throw his shots without getting hit. With Maidana always coming forward, Roach is going to give Khan marching orders to run all night and just throw jabs.