Khan came storming out of the gate taking the fight to Maidana in the opening round and nearly cut the Argentinian in half with a left hook to the liver. Maidana went down in a world of hurt but amazingly he beat the count and survived the round. Khan continued to push the pace in the early rounds with lightning fast punches but Maidana recovered and reasserted himself in the fight. After losing a point for throwing an elbow, Maidana landed some good punches in the middle rounds and pressed the action.
Khan continued to use his quick hands to his advantage and pulled ahead down the stretch but a big left hand from Maidana in Round 10 turned the fight in his favour. He hurt Khan badly and punished him for the final half of the stanza.
Remarkably Khan found a second wind in the eleventh and seemingly got his wits back. He peppered Maidana with some quick combos in the final minute of the round as the Argentinian appeared to have lost some steam as a result of his late rally.
Khan got on his bicycle in the final round and appeared confident in his early lead as he held off Maidana until the final bell.
After twelve rounds were complete the official scores were 114-111 (x2) and 113-112 in favour of Khan.
It was a clear case of Khan looking good early and crusing to a commanding lead only to see Maidana come storming on in the end.
FightFan.com had the bout 114-111 for Khan who improved to 24-1 (17 KOs) with the win, retaining his WBA light welterweight title.
