By William Mackay: At the Los Angeles press conference this week, WBA light welterweight champion said he plans on coming out with a different strategy by throwing power punches for his December 11th fight against Argentinian knockout artist Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) . Khan said “I’m going to do something different in this fight, something nobody’s ever seen me do. I’m changing my style. I’m going to come in and be the big puncher. This fight is going to be explosive.” While there were a few of Khan’s loyal fans that bought into that line, many more fans saw that as a decoy statement by Khan to throw Maidana off by making him train for a Khan that’s going to be coming right at him.

However, with Khan’s weak chin, that plan would be near suicidal and would only lead to him getting knocked out in the first couple of rounds. Khan revealed what is likely his real strategy for the Maidana fight after touching down in the Philippines to begin training with Freddie Roach, his trainer, and with Manny Pacquiao. In an interview at Abc-cbnnews.com, Khan said “I think I’ve got the skills to beat him [Maidana]. You know, hit, move, angles, speed. Freddie Roach is the best cornerman and the best trainer in the world, so I think he’s going to help me.”

There it is. Khan has revealed likely what he’s really going to be doing in the Maidana bout. I didn’t think for a second that Khan would stand and trade with a monster puncher like Maidana. The difference here is that Maidana can take Khan’s slapping shots, but Khan won’t be able to stand up to Maidana huge power shots round after round, even if Khan runs like mad to avoid Maidana. I’ve seen Maidana’s fights against fighters that run from him, and he literally chases them down in a job to catch them with power shots.

He’s not someone that is going to plod after Khan and let him hit and run. Khan is going to get trapped against the ropes repeatedly, and will probably fall back on one of Roach’s strategies of clinching to try and stop Maidana from punching. Unlike other fighters, Maidana doesn’t allow himself to be clinched. He keeps punching where ever he can. Victor Cayo and Victor Ortiz both tried clinching Maidana and were belted on the side of the head, back of the head and to the body. In the case of Cayo, he was stopped with a vicious body shot.

This could be Khan’s fate when Maidana catches up to him and lands one of his big shots at close range. Hitting and running sounds good if it were a normal fighter, but Maidana is from Argentina and he doesn’t let his opponents run form him or grab him. To beat Maidana, you have to meet him one on one and beat him in the pit. Khan will have to prove that he has the chin to beat Maidana in that kind of a war, because running, clinching and using angles will only get Khan knocked out.