By Ed Hoyle: This evening Amir Khan (24-1) defeated a game Marcos Maidana, (29-2) retained his WBA light-welterweight title and sent a strong message to the other top contenders in the division.

In what what proved to be a frantic fight from the off-set soon descended into a battle of wills with both men looking for the stoppage victory.

Khan appeared the more collected of the two fighters; putting together blistering three and four shot combinations whilst constantly moving away from his opponents proclaimed power. Maidana meanwhile seemed content to wait for Khan to make mistakes and punish him accordingly.

Indeed, Khan did make mistakes. Within thirty-seconds of the first bell Maidana scored with a big right hand and put Khan’s supposedly brittle chin to the test for the first time since his devastating knockout defeat to Bredis Presscott. However, not only did Khan take the shot well, he fought back and after riding out the initial Maidana onslaught, put the Argentinian puncher down with a crunching left hand to the rib cage. In truth, if the knockdown had being thirty seconds earlier, Khan would be likely celebrating a first round stoppage as Maidana was taking punishment on the ropes when the bell saved him.

The second round continued in similar fashion, with Khan moving around the ring whilst ambushing Maidana with lightning fast combinations. Maidana seemingly still recovering from the earlier body shot.

However, in the third round Maidana made a real statement. Spending the entirety of the three minutes cutting off the ring and bombarding the man from Bolton with hard hooks and uppercuts. Though never really hurting Khan, the South American made a real point of intent.

The same pattern emerged in the fourth with Maidana stepping up the tempo. However, since teaming up with Freddie Roach Khan applied a new found resolve and battled back with hard accurate shots, possibly stealing the round.

In the fifth Maidana was simply outclassed. Khan working at long-range was able to pick his man off and subsequently inflicted damage to Maidana’s right eye. Towards the latter part of the round Maidana’s frustrations seemed to boil over and after throwing an elbow was possibly somewhat harshly deducted a point by Joe Cortez, stretching Khan’s lead even further.

The point deduction seemed to inject a sense of urgency into Maidana’s work ethic and like the third, he stepped up the tempo for the majority of the sixth. Putting real pressure on Khan without catching him flush. The endeavour highlighted the latino’s passion and desire whilst reminding Khan that he was far from out the woods.

The seventh was another clinic from Maidana; constantly beating Khan to the punch with hard uppercuts. Though the Englishman was able to absorb the blows he almost alarmingly began to look towards his corner. It seemed the fight was beginning to swing in Maidana’s favour.
Khan then showed the world why he’s supposedly boxing’s next ‘big thing’ and after previously taking two rounds of constant bombardment, proceeded to give Maidana a boxing lesson in the eighth. Utilising one of the best jabs seen in recent years, Khan constantly switched his attack from head to body leaving the Argentinian confused.

Though visibly tired, Maidana was on the front foot again in the ninth and was seemingly winning the round comfortably until a peach Khan uppercut thwarted all the momentum he had built up. Khan then landed some more trademark three punch clusters stealing a close round.
The tenth then begged the following question – How did a fighter who’s considered to have no chin manage to stay on his feet for the entire round? The answer’s simple. Heart.

Midway through the tenth Maidana threw a vicious right hayemaker and everyone except Amir Khan seemed to think the fight was to be stopped at any point. Khan looked groggy and yet still managed to remain on his feet and avoid the majority of shots raining down upon him for the remainder of the round.

Though Khan survived, Maidana sensed blood and once again came out swinging for the eleventh. However, as in the ninth, Khan procured a fantastic uppercut and once again restored the equilibrium.

The twelfth appeared to have a simple agenda; Maidana needed to score a knockout whilst Khan needed to stay clear of danger in order to see out a close unanimous decision. However, wise or not, Khan opted to go toe to toe with a man who boasts a 90% knockout ratio and though suffering a few scares, finished the round and fight punching.
The man from Bolton then raised his gloves in triumph.

The post-fight interview appeared to provoke a mixture of emotions from Khan, most prominent, the Englishman seemed eager to goad the critics who claimed he had no chin. On the night’s evidence, it would be hard to argue the contrast. Khan took and gave and produced a performance nobody believed he was capable of.

The question now lingers – Where to does Khan go now?

An apparent re-match with Maidana has already being mentioned. However considering the slugger is an un-doubtedly dangerous opponent, it seems an unlikely fight to be made. More realistically, Khan should wait for the winner of Alexander-Bradley and then attempt to unite the division. After producing such a performance; would either of the Americans want to face such a dangerous opponent who would most likely be favourite to win either fight?

For now Khan can relax and be a proud of producing by far his most dramatic and thrilling display yet. A great day for Amir Khan, an even better day for British boxing.