By William Mackay: There’s little question that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) has the better boxing skills compared to WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s). The problem for Khan is he also has a glass chin, and has been matched against soft opposition for most of his career. He’s fought one hard puncher during his career and he lost that fight in a 1st round knockout defeat to Colombian Breidis Prescott. Maidana is a more powerful version of Prescott, but the ability to knockout foes at close distance, something that Prescott isn’t nearly as good at.

Khan and Maidana face of on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a recent interview, Maidana said that when he lands one of his big shots on Khan ‘The fight is over.” Khan seems to think he’s going to be able to avoid getting hit by Maidana in the fight. In watching video of Khan working out with his trainer Freddie Roach, Khan looked very hittable even when using his hit and run technique. Khan may be kidding himself if he thinks he’ll be able to prevent from getting hit by Maidana in this fight.

Khan may be faster of hand and feet, but he’s going to get hit when he comes in to throw his combinations. He only has a one inch height advantage over the 5’9″ Maidana, and this isn’t going to be like Khan’s fights against shorter fighters like Andriy Kotelnik, Paulie Malignaggi and Marco Antonio Barrera. Maidana is tall enough to land his shots against Khan when he comes in close to land his own punches.

In an interview at Sky Sports Ringside, Khan said “I’ll hit move, hit the angles and just be too sharp for him. I am sure with my footwork I can take him down.”

Khan’s footwork won’t keep him from getting hit really hard at least once per round, and the problem for Khan is that his chin is probably too weak to even take one hard punch per round without betraying him.