Mayweather, Khan, and Maidana – Who Gets the Fight?

By Michael Byrne - 02/06/2014 - Comments

may4By Michael Byrne: So Floyd Mayweather Jr. has opened up the floor to his fans on whether he fights Amir Khan or Marcos Maidana next, and the opinions are swaying in Maidana’s favour. This is because, for all the talk Khan gives, he doesn’t deserve the shot and he doesn’t have the fan base he claims to have. He is a big name, doubtless: everyone who knows anything of boxing knows of Amir Khan. But most people just want him to shut his mouth.

Khan has a very large Pakistani-British following, for obvious reasons, but outside of that his arrogance and delusion, and failure to back up his talk in the ring, have earned him little respect. Khan got knocked out by Danny Garcia in 2012 in a fight he was expected to win, and since then has beaten Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz (just). These two wins do not earn you a title shot, never mind a shot at the pound-for-pound king. Khan refused a fight with Devon Alexander because he seemed sure he would get the Mayweather fight, and he must be regretting that now. Khan should have took the Alexander fight. He would most likely have won it, because Alexander is good but limited and lacks power. Alexander is fast and throws good combinations; Khan is faster and throws better combinations. Shawn Porter took the chance which Khan did not, and now Shawn Porter is 20-0. The win would have earned Khan the IBF title and some much-needed respect.

Maidana, on the other hand, doesn’t talk himself up, doesn’t trash-talk his way into fights, he just gets in the ring and slugs, and everyone loves to watch him. And recently, with Robert Garcia’s help, he’s learnt to box. Maidana is coming off a big win against Adrien Broner, which was his most complete performance to date. When he lost every round to Alexander in 2012, he came back against Soto Karass and tried to throw jabs and work his way inside. He didn’t look good, and the fight was close until his power became too much for Soto Karass. However, with three wins since then he has developed his ability and is now a very formidable force at a talent-packed 147.

So Maidana deserves the shot, or at least he does more than Khan. However, we’ve seen Floyd dominate fighters like Maidana time and time again. Spanning Diego Corrales to Canelo Alvarez, with your Gattis and Hattons in between, Mayweather dominates every come-forward hard-hitter he gets in the ring with. We will doubtless see a beautiful display of boxing skills from Floyd, but a large part of the entertainment of boxing comes from its competitive nature, and this will be lacking here. Whilst I think Maidana is the superior fighter to Khan, I think Khan could potentially make a more entertaining contest with Mayweather. Khan is lightning fast. Mayweather struggled with Zab Judah’s speed in 2006 before adjusting and dominating him. Khan is able to throw much faster combinations than Judah, and there is every chance that Mayweather won’t like this, and it may take him a few rounds to get his timing. Floyd fights carefully at this stage in his career, but the safest way to deal with Khan is to neutralize him. After a competitive few rounds, Floyd may go for the knockout by targeting Khan’s chin with some big shots: the lead right hands, the check-hooks when Khan lunges in, and so on. Khan does not have a glass chin as people so often criticize; his problem is that he leaves his chin so open and undefended that, if you can get inside his long, fast hands, you’re going to tag it.

And thus we have a problem because Maidana deserves the fight more but Khan will likely make a better fight, and it would be nice to see Khan get his mouth shut. It would not, however, be nice to see Khan get a big payday he doesn’t deserve. I vote Maidana.



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