By William Mackay: Despite having a reputation for having a weak chin, WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) says he doesn’t plan on running from challenger Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) on December 11th, according to the latest boxing news. Most experts feel that Khan is going to run all night long from Maidana the same way that Khan fought a safety first fight in beating World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik last year to capture his title.
However, Khan, 23, says he’s not going to run, saying in an article at eastsideboxing.com, “He [Maidana] thinks I’m going to run in the fight, but I’m not going to run. I’ll be as comfortable and effective close in, in the pocket, as well as from long distance. I’ll box him with brains.”
I think Khan is either kidding himself about this or blowing smoke up our backsides about not running. Khan really doesn’t have the chin to stand and trade with Maidana, and he’s in for a shocking realization if he thinks he can hit Maidana without getting hit back. Khan may do reasonably well while running and jabbing against Maidana, but he’s going to have the ring cut off on him and will be forced to fight him at some point.
Maidana is bigger and younger than 5’6” Antonio Marco Barrera. That was the only fight that Khan really didn’t get hit with too much recently, other than the Dmitri Salita bout. Maidana is bigger than Barrera at 5’9”, and a lot more powerful and skilled at cutting off the ring. Khan may be riding an ego high off of wins over the soft opposition that he’s been put in with, and also thinks that his trainer Freddie Roach has improved him to the point where he won’t get knocked out again.
I think Khan is really kidding himself. It’s like a person that gets a black belt in karate, and then believing themselves to be better than they are. The next thing you know, they’re getting the stuffing beaten out of them on the street by some guy with no training whatsoever. I’m not saying that Maidana has no training, but he has huge power and he has way of making up for his lack of hand speed and his crude boxing skills. It doesn’t matter that he’s not as fast as Khan or as skilled. He gets the job done anyway with brute force.
Khan says “Take his [Maidana] power away and he’s a domestic fighter, an ordinary fighter. I think he’s won his fights with his power and his heart. He’s not a complete fighter. Skills always win fights.” Khan really sounds silly here. Of course, Maidana would be a different fighter if he had no power. Mike Tyson and George Foreman would have been different fighters if they didn’t have power. But the fact is Maidana does have power, and Khan’s ‘What if’ scenarios are meaningless. And Khan is wrong about “Skills always win fights.”
No, they don’t always win fights. A knockout artist can always have a decent chance of knocking out a better skilled fighter. I’m sure Maidana has knocked out more than a few fighters that have had better boxing skills than him, case in point Victor Ortiz. I think power and heart even out the equation and can make it a toss-up.
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