By Mark Hepplestall: In the early hours of Sunday morning the boxing public learned that Amir Khan successfully defended his WBA light welterweight title against the most dangerous puncher in the division, a fight that the Khan haters said would be the end of him. Luckily because it was such a good fight both fighters will have an increased stock and will be able to come again and fight for world titles. The big question was can Khan stay on his feet? Can Khan stop himself from being knocked out? Also lastly were does Khan go after the Maidana fight? (If he loses)

The fight started with Amir Khan stating his desire to set a dominate jab and draw Maidana on to hopefully make mistakes, at the same time Maidana was hoping Khan was going to be too quick for himself and make mistakes and this was what happened for both fighters in round 1. Maidana first caught Khan with a big punch causing him to retreat giving the initiative to Maidana to find the stoppage were a wild Maidana left himself open to the body while attempting to protect his chin taking a combination of jabs, hooks and two monstrous body shots which sent the Argentine to the canvas for 8 seconds, credit to Maidana for getting up, as that is the type of shot that puts boxers down for the knockout. Lucky for Maidana that there was only 30 seconds left in the round because Cortez had a good look at Maidana who was taking shots and not firing back, however Cortez did the same for Khan later in round 10 when Khan was hurt

Round 2 was a boxing exhibition by Khan landing clean shots on a still hurt Maidana who was covering the body still from the shot in the 1st round. The combinations Khan landed were incredible and his movement was great to watch and could be shown to amateurs to show them what boxing is all about, as in not just the knock out like some primitive people suggest.

Round 3 was a good round for Maidana, he cut the ring down well and showed his aggression. Khan continued throwing the jab and landing combinations off the jab, this was a very close round which I gave to Maidana on aggression alone, other than that they were pretty similar and could have went either way.

Round 4 had Maidana keeping the same tempo but with Khan increasing his tempo, Maidana kept the aggression but Khan kept landing combinations and moving. Even though the round was close again Maidana like most of the middle rounds showed aggression but not effective aggression losing the rounds.

The boxing master class continued in round 5 with Khan landing combinations at will against a mentally drained Maidana, Maidana needed something to make him fight harder and wasn’t getting it from his corner.

At the six there was a point deduction for Maidana at the in the round also which gave Maidana realise his sense of urgency but wasn’t enough to win the round, I gave this as a 10-8 round however the official judges gave it 10-9 to Khan suggesting he lost the round which was hard to see, Khan wins the round due to the 10 point win system, if Maidana was to lose the round it would have been a 10-8 round.

The 7th was a great round for Maidana with him landing good uppercuts on the inside when Khan insisted on fighting toe to toe, Khan should have stuck to the original plan of boxing and moving which unfortunately is what the majority of Maidana’s opponents seem to do, this must be a brawn over brains decision.

The 8th was once again a great boxing round for Khan; he showed great movement again and had a dominant jab. His combinations were on show in this round again and even though a tired Maidana kept ploughing forward showing aggression it just wasn’t effective and that was why he lost the round.

The 9th was a round I gave as even (10-10) as Maidana brought his aggression forward, the effectiveness was good for the first minute but Khan bossed the rest of the round after a beautiful uppercut which turned the fight on its head and showed Khan pushing Maidana back.

The 10th was a mini disaster for Khan, in fact this was the round were he answered the majority of the questions. Maidana hit Khan with a huge shot, the type that would knockdown the majority of boxers, probably hospitalize a boxer without a chin. Khan tried to keep away but a very wild Maidana just kept throwing shots, maybe 1 in 4 shots landed and a close to unconscious Khan repeatedly tied up his opponent. Cortez kept separating them because the wild Maidana accidentally landed rabbit punches when Khan turned away when holding. 1:30 seconds later Khan had made it through the worst and made it back to the corner where Roach had him taking deep breaths, water and other techniques to clear his head.

The 11th was even with Maidana coming out aggressive and wild and Khan going back to basics keeping him at the end of the jab until he landed a huge uppercut of his own to show his dominance. I had the round even but I could understand if you gave it to Khan or Maidana.

The 12th was just pure survival mode were Khan ran, held and threw the odd jab to fend off the wild and aggressive Maidana who smelt blood and needed the knockout, no doubt Maidana won the last round but overall he lost the war.

The scorecards were closer to every analyst in the audience, the official scorecards 114-111, 114-111, 113-112. I had Khan Win by four or five points, I can agree with 114-111 but I have no idea how the 3rd judge had only 1 point in it. Aggression only scores if it is effective however for the majority of the fight Maidana was not effective compared to Khan. Even after the fight Maidana never celebrated as he knew he didn’t do enough and even when asked if he wanted a rematch he didn’t bite Khans hand off. Even if there is a rematch Maidana has no bargaining power anymore and the fight would likely occur in England. Maidana can come again though and showed enough to beat Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley if they were to fight, no wonder he hasn’t been matched with those champions as of yet.

Khan did show that he can take a punch and also that his lack of chin at lightweight may be partly to due to being weight drained. Khan will be fighting the winner of Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley, however I am not sure they will be totally up for the unification now and maybe instead Khan will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez instead.