By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) sees himself stopping World Boxing Association light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) between the 7th and 9th rounds or winning by a 12 round unanimous decision when they meet next month on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan had this to say on his Twitter yesterday: “Prediction on Haye v Harrison – Haye KO within 5. Pacquiao v Margarito – Pacquiao TKO 9-10. Khan (Me) v Maidana – Khan TKO 7-9 or UD.” Picking himself to stop Maidana is a pretty bold prediction for Khan, because Maidana has never been knocked out before, and has shown a good chin.
Maidana was in with a better puncher than Khan in his fight with the hard hitting Victor Ortiz last year, and Maidana took his shots and eventually stopped Ortiz in the 6th round. Maidana was knocked down several times by Ortiz, but they were all flash knockdowns and not a situation where he was actually hurt. Ortiz is almost as fast as Khan and clearly is a bigger puncher by far. I’d say that Ortiz and Maidana are the two biggest punchers in the light welterweight division at this point in time.
If Maidana can take Ortiz’s shots, then Khan has no chance of stopping him. There is a real danger for Khan if he tries to knock Maidana out, though. Khan usually gets his knockouts by throwing flurries and standing directly in front of his opponents. He’s not going to be able to knock Maidana out on the run. He doesn’t have power when he’s moving around. For Khan to knock Maidana out, he’s going to have to stop and throw a lot of punches. Once Khan stops and trades with Maidana, Khan’s glass jaw will be totally exposed and ripe for Maidana to land one of his huge power shots.
I see this fight as being very similar to Zab Judah vs. Lucas Martin Matthysse fight which took place last weekend. Khan is like Judah in that he’ll run around the ring trying to keep from getting tapped on his chin. And Maidana, also an Argentinian like Matthysse, will be stalking Khan all night, taking jabs and looking to tear Khan’s head off with every shot. Khan will do okay for five or six rounds, but once Maidana catches up to Khan, he’ll knock him down and badly hurt him. Khan will then be forced to clinch after getting back up, but unlike Matthysse, Maidana is a murderous puncher in close range and will knock Khan out even with Khan holding on for dear life. Maidana won’t start his attack late in the fight like Matthysse did. Khan will be under a constant rain of punches from the 1st round until the bitter end in the 6th or 7th.
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