By Mark Hepplestall: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan 23(17)-1(1)-0 is in hard training for the Marcos Maidana fight. Just recently there have been large amounts of negative press about Amir Khan ranging from his diet to how long he can last in the fight with a glass chin. Unfortunately the vast majority of it is a hype job trying to disguise that a world class boxer is fighting a one dimensional brawler with only one gun in his arsenal which is his huge power punch. It’s worth stating that Marcos Maidana won has a 30 fight record with 29 wins 27 by KO with only 1 loss which adds up to a 90% KO ratio.

One thing that is noticeable is that all of Maidana’s opponents expect two have stood in front of Maidana all night and eventually got KO’d; it is as if they needed to prove their chins against Maidana’s big punch. More recent examples include Victor Ortiz who had the skill to totally outbox Maidana and expose his chin to be suspect when combinations land, unfortunately Ortiz then got overconfident leaving himself totally exposed looking for the KO, when Maidana landed one “Hail Mary” shot to knock Ortiz down. Maidana then kept ploughing forward getting himself knocked down two more times in round two and totally out-boxed in the rest of the rounds until round 6 where Maidana caught Ortiz again and eventually Ortiz quitted later in the 6th.

Secondly Victor Manuel Cayo who had a 63% KO ratio fought Marcos Maidana; this fight was billed as a boxer against a brawler yet was anything but this, Cayo came out using speed and movement yet was happy to stand toe to toe with Maidana, which was his downfall. This fight was a real battle with both fighters landing shots and Cayo coming out on top on the majority of the rounds by landing the better shots including combinations except for round 2 which was a 10 – 8 round due to knock down from a body shot and the eventual KO in the 6th via body shot. Cayo’s tactics were totally wrong in this fight, why would a boxer who has a low KO ratio stand toe to toe with a brawler with a 90% KO ratio?

Both Maidana and Khan have lost and if you haven’t noticed they are both fighting their worst nightmare. Khan is protected from big punchers and usually matched against boxers that he can out-box with his superior movement and speed. Whereas Maidana fights other brawlers and boxers who are expected to stand in front of him for 12 rounds until Maidana finds the big punch, he actually hasn’t fought anyone who is expected to out-box him apart from Kotelnik which was very controversial. Kotelnik Vs Maidana was quantity of punches on the front foot (Maidana) vs quality punches (Kotelnik).

Khan is totally different form anybody Maidana has faced; Khan has a Speed, Movement and boxing ability advantage, the only advantage Maidana truly possesses is the Power advantage. Plus tactically will Freddy Roach allow Khan to follow to fight Maidana’s fight? Surely the most important thing is Khan boxing and moving and not allowing Maidana to get close and land big shots. As long as Khan keeps the fight at a distance Khan will cruise to a point’s decision. People are pointing out that Khan Vs Maidana is very similar to Wladimir Klitschko Vs Sam Peter in the sense that the superior boxer with a weak win is fighting an overhyped power puncher with realistically only a punchers chance.

Overall this fight is one punch Vs combinations, I see Khan totally dominating the fight, Khan will use his superior speed, movement and technical ability to win the fight, Khan will box and move landing combinations at will on Maidana’s chin, which is answer questions about Maidana’s chin. Freddy Roach will stop Khan from jumping in and becoming reckless like he was in the later rounds against Paul Malignaggi. At the end of the fight there will be either a TKO win for Khan or a Points decision 118-111, 118-111, 120-108.