By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan has been saying he wants to limit the amount of fights like he had in his last bout against the Argentinian knockout artist Marcos Maidana in December. Khan says he proved that he has a good chin by standing up to Maidana’s shots. I don’t agree. I think Khan hasn’t proven anything, and I don’t agree with Khan’s fans who feel that because Khan beat Maidana, he doesn’t have to prove himself against other big punchers in the future like Breidis Prescott or Lucas Matthysse.

Why wouldn’t Khan have to prove himself? Just because he barely beat Maidana, that doesn’t mean that the win can be used as a crutch to avoid fighting other big sluggers in the future. If Khan is going to say that he proved himself in his fight with Maidana and that he’s going to limit the amount of fights he has against guys that can punch, he’s effectively saying he can cherry pick weaker punchers that aren’t a threat to his weak chin. We already saw Khan face a number of weak punchers after his loss to Prescott in 2008.

It wasn’t until the very end of 2010 that Khan finally faced another puncher. If we’re to use the past as a gauge for the future, this suggests that we may not see Khan face another slugger until around 2013. And who knows? We may not see him fight a slugger even then if he can continue, with the help of his fans, point to his win over Maidana as proof that he’s proven he has a good chin.