Khan: Maidana needs to fight guys in the top 10 like I do

By Boxing News - 09/27/2011 - Comments

Image: Khan: Maidana needs to fight guys in the top 10 like I doBy William Mackay: Yesterday, WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (31-2, 28 KO’s) playfully suggested that IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KO’s) become his adviser after Khan critiqued Maidana’s choice of opponent for his last fight Petr Petrov, who was a last minute replacement to substitute for the injured Robert Guerrero.

Khan said that Maidana needs to fight WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley next. Maidana then offered Khan to become his adviser.

Khan said this on his twitter about the adviser position: “So Maidana and his team want me to be his adviser. That’s fine. I’m sure I can do a better job than them. First bit of advice, fight guys who are in the top ten like I do. You’ve recently fought Petrov, [ranked] 57th, [Erik] Morales, 20th, [DeMarcus] Corley, 163rd. [Victor] Cayo, 34th, [William] Gonzalez, 250th. Damn, no wonder he has a high knockout percentage, and he couldn’t even knockout or devven drop what you guys call a glass jaw? He had 12 rounds to knock me out and couldn’t even put me on the canvas, and nearly is not good enough. 2nd bit of advice. Fight Bradley this year, get past him and then you’ll get more advice.”

Khan leaves out the fact that Maidana had him badly hurt, stumbling around, being allowed to hold by the referee for the last three years without being penalized in Khan’s fight with Maidana last December. Khan also fails to mention that the referee kept pulling Maidana and Khan apart while Maidana was battering Khan with heavy shots against the ropes. At times, it was if Maidana was fighting two guys out there – the referee and Khan.

Khan has little room to speak about weak opposition. In the past two years, he’s fought the light hitting Paulie Malignaggi and Paul McCloskey, both fighters were no threat to knocking him out. Now Khan is about to fight Lamont Peterson on December 10th, a guy that slaps with his punch and who isn’t a knockout threat.

Khan does face contenders, to be sure, but he seems to be consistently matched up against the contenders that don’t have much in the way of power. A rematch with Maidana is a much bigger fight than a bout against Peterson, yet that’s who Khan prefers to fight instead of the bigger money fight against Maidana. Any time a fighter prefers to take a lesser fight with less money, you have to assume they’re afraid of taking the bigger fight due to the risk involved.



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