By Alex Sharp: World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) faces challenger Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) on December 11th in what should be the toughest fight of his career to date. There is no doubt that the big question mark in relation to Khan is will he be able to withstand the punching power of Maidana. I am a big fan of Khan and think he is a talented fighter but all of his talents are useless at this level unless he can take a punch. Khan has come a long way since his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott two years ago but I believe that was the best thing that could have happened to him at that stage of his career.

Khan was quite arrogant and just thought that he could slug it out with anyone and come out on top. How wrong he was. It is also worth pointing out that the initial punch that put Khan in trouble was a big one and would have put numerous boxers in that division in trouble. If it was the Khan of now in that fight he would not have even been hit with the punch as his defence is a lot better and he would not of been trying to slug with Prescott. Manny Pacquiao was KO ed early in his career and nobody questions his chin now. I am not saying that Khan will have a chin as good as Manny but there is hope for him.

Some fighters have great chins and can take a lot of punishment and other fighters don’t its as simple as that. I don’t believe Khan has a great chin. I do think it is better than people think it is but I dont think its great. I think he is better prepared now to take a decent punch as he is not always coming forward and he wont be walking onto any big punches Maidana throws. He has been taught how to use his jab very effectively and that can be a big weapon defensively against fighters who constantly come forward as Carl Froch showed us on Saturday night. He is also using a tight guard now and when combined with his quick footwork can make him quite a tough target to hit. In his fight with Paulie Malignaggi he made it very hard for Paulie to hit him and for all his faults Paulie does have very fast hands a lot faster than Maidana.

Maidana only loss has come against Andriy Kotelnik. Some people question the decision but either way it was a close fight. When Amir fought him for the title it was an easy win for him. At the time people said that Kotelnik was a paper champion but he has fought both Maidana and Alexander and in both cases they were very close fights and the decision could have gone either way. I know Kotelnik took massive punishment in the fight but Khan is a lot quicker on his feet and moves around the ring a lot better. This fight also showed us how easy Maidana is to hit and Khan will have plenty of chances to get in with some really good counter shots as he does possess decent power himself. Maidana could have had another loss on his record after his fight with Victor Ortiz but Ortiz got carried away after the knockdowns and thought he could finish him which proved to be a very bad idea and he ended up quitting.

If Khan does get passed Maidana and he takes some decent shots and stays standing then I believe he will go on to great things. When he looks back on his career this will have been his defining fight which ever way it goes. If he wins i think he will beat the winner of Bradley and Alexander (i think Bradley will win that fight). I don’t think that either of those fighters would handle his speed or jab. He would then move onto the mega fights, maybe fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr.

When you read articles about Khan everyone seems to mention his chin as the big problem for him and nobody seems to question his boxing ability, which says to me people know how good he could potentially be. I also don’t believe that Golden Boy or Freddie Roach would have put him in this fight if they thought he was simply going to get blown away. His fight against Maidana will be a massive test and in my eyes it is a 50/50 fight. It also has to be said that even though Maidana is not the greatest boxer in the world he would be a huge test for anyone in that division. He has the potential to beat any of the champions, and if he does win will be a worthy champion.