Khan plans on moving on and not giving Maidana a rematch

By Boxing News - 12/15/2010 - Comments

Image: Khan plans on moving on and not giving Maidana a rematchBy Dan Ambrose: Rather than giving Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KO’s) a rematch after winning a close 12 round decisions last weekend in Las Vegas, WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) plans on moving on to face a still unnamed opponent in March or April next year. Khan wants to fight the winner of the Devon Alexander vs. Timothy Bradley bout sometime next year, and he sees that as a top priority.

But before then, Khan will be fighting next in the UK and possibly against former two division world champion Zab Judah rather than Breidis Prescott. Judah, 33, would be an arguably easier opponent for Khan than the hard hitting Prescott, because Judah is shorter than Prescott, isn’t a huge puncher, and is now pretty much only a six round fighter nowadays.

Judah runs out of gas by the 6th round in his fights in the past few years, and Khan could likely beat him by just hanging around until Judah fades and runs out of gas. Prescott, however, would be a big threat to Khan the whole time, and that’s likely will disqualify Prescott from getting a rematch in the future or ever. The same goes for Maidana, who had Khan on the verge of a knockout but was unable to finish Khan off. Some boxing fans feel that referee Joe Cortez was a factor in Khan being able to survive in the 10th and 11th rounds against Maidana because Cortez was breaking Maidana while he was pounding Khan on the inside.

In an article at eastsideboxing.com, Khan said this about fighting Maidana again: “Rematch? If for some reason we ever did have a rematch it would be a lot more convincing and a lot easier. I would have a rematch, but there are other fights out there that could be bigger fights, like the winner of Timothy Bradley and Alexander. So I’ve beaten Maidana now. I’ve settled the score there…What else does Amir Khan have to prove?”

It’s highly doubtful that Khan could improve upon his performance against Maidana in a rematch because Khan had the perfect fight; He had a referee that was perfect in separating Khan and Maidans when they would come in close. In a rematch, there’s no way that Maidana would agree to having Cortez work the fight. Maidana may have made a huge error by going through with the Khan fight knowing that Cortez was the referee because in some of his fights he’s been very involved and he’s often criticized by fans for getting in the way of action on the inside. Without Cortez, Khan would likely have huge problems against Maidana on the inside. Khan would have to avoid turning his back on Maidana the way he did when hurt in the 10th round. That would put Khan in danger of being penalized or knocked out.

A fight between Khan and the winner of the Alexander-Bradley fight might not be as big as Khan thinks it will be. Neither Bradley or Alexander or huge stars in the U.S,, and Khan only recently gaining some fans – but he’s also disliked for how he ran from Maidana for most of the fight. It wasn’t an impressive performance on Khan’s part. He was like a poor version of Floyd Mayweather Jr without the stamina, defense, foot work and athletic ability. A fight between Khan and Bradley or Alexander likely wouldn’t be even as popular as Khan-Maidana, because Bradley and Alexander haven’t won over the U.S. public yet the way that Maidana has done on HBO. As such, Khan may opt to fight Alexander or Bradley but fail to get the attention and praise he’s been looking for.

A fight between Judah and Khan isn’t all that interesting either. Judah looked terrible in his last fight against Lucas Matthysse and probably should have lost the bout.



Comments are closed.