By William Mackay: After beating a handful of pillow punchers since being knocked out in the 1st round two years ago, WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) has gotten into the habit of talking about fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the near future. While I can’t predict the future, I don’t know that Mayweather will see Khan as an appealing option after he gets knocked out in his next fight against Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. I believe the Khan hype train will end in December with him getting knocked out early by Maidana.

Khan talks as if he’s already beaten every top fighter in the light welterweight division. It’s pretty incredible given the fact that he’s been selectively matched since he failed in his test against Breidis Prescott. Khan is now after two long years about to be tested again by being put in with an even bigger puncher than Prescott in his fight with Maidana. Khan likes to point out that having Freddie Roach as his trainer has changed everything and made him a much better fighter without the same flaws he had in the past.

You could say that Khan sees Roach as a security blanket that insulates him from any self doubt he might have after his knockout loss. Think of Roach as a kind of good luck charm, because that’s really all he can be. Khan’s chin isn’t any better than it was in the past. The only difference is he’s been put in with weak punchers or ones that just can’t fight at all, period. Now, Khan is going to be put in with a monstrous, albeit one with crude boxing skills. It won’t matter.

Maidana will stalk Khan like a hunger stalking deer, and he’ll take all of Khan’s jabs and shots just to get to his weak chin. Once Maidana starts landing on Khan’s fragile chin, it will be only a matter of time before he knocks him out. Khan doesn’t realize that Maidana is going to be around for 12 rounds. He seems to think the fight will long before that. That’s 12 rounds for Maidana to land crushing shots. With the kind of power that Maidana has and the odds that he’s going to catch up to Khan a certain amount of times in every round, I just don’t see how Khan will be able to last for long.

Maidana can take Khan’s shots, especially because Khan will be literally on the run. But Khan won’t be able to take Maidana’s shots. You can bet on that. Khan is going to get beaten up and then taken out. His career will then be put back into the local scene where he can safely return to beating obscure fighters with no power. The British fans will loyally support Khan the same way they continued to support Ricky Hatton after he was exposed by Floyd Mayweather Jr.