By Castillo Fuentes: In a possible fight of the year winner, Amir Khan proved that he had the heart, and more importantly the chin, to beat a big time slugger in Argentinean Marcos Maidana. Maidana was put on his seat in the first round, coming from a brutal body combination from the young Briton. They say there is no way the bell can save you, but it definitely saved Maidana there because he had fully recovered by round three. Had that knockdown come with 30 seconds left in round one, I think we would all be talking about Khan, not Maidana, having the most powerful hands in the light welterweight division.

Amir Khan proved on Saturday night that he can take his punches, and at worst, his chin is above average. Entering the tenth round, I had Khan up by the score of 87-82. Then came the moment of truth. We all knew that Maidana’s heart was as big as his right hand, and he sure proved it round ten. He came at Khan with everything, throwing hooks and uppercuts in bunches. How Khan managed to stay on his feet, we might never know. Maidana came out in round eleven looking to do more of the same, but after a one minute rest, where Freddie Roach scorned Khan, Khan landed some nice rights and uppercuts while also countering successfully to win the round. At this point Khan was up 105-101, and all he needed to do was to avoid getting tattooed. Khan won by a unanimous decision: 114-111, 114-111, and 113-112.

What amazed me was how much punishment Khan took in the later rounds, but he still managed to stay on his feet throughout the entire fight. Khan out landed Maidana, 45 percent to 20 percent, and he stuck to his words when he said that at points in the fight, he was going to slug it out against the iron-fisted Maidana. It was no surprise to me though, that Maidana wanted to fight dirty. Right after the first bell, Khan stuck his glove out to show a gesture of sportsmanship, but Maidana unleashed a left hook that barely missed Khan. Maidana was also deducted a point for elbowing after a clinch in round five, looking frustrated because he had obviously lost all the rounds before then.

After the fight, Larry Merchant of Home Box Office sports asked Maidana if he wanted a rematch, to which he replied through a translator, “We’ll fight whoever” and promptly left the ring. Khan has proved he can beat a pure boxer in Paulie Malignaggi, dominating him in an eleventh round TKO in May, and he also proved last night he can beat a pure brawler in Marcos Maidana. What have we learned? Amir Khan is the one to beat in the 140 pound division.