It?s been a week since we witnessed Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana go head to head for 12 rounds in a potential fight of the year candidate for 2010. When that final bell sounded and Michael Buffer announced Amir Khan as the winner by unanimous decision, I would say the general boxing public learned a couple things about both fighters that night.
Marcos Maidana is a force to be reckoned with. Whether he is one dimensional or not, any future opponent would be foolish to under estimate him and believe they could just coast to a win by simply being the ?better boxer?. He has the will power of no other and put aside the fact that his punches must feel like you?re being hulk smashed in the face, Maidana only knows one way inside that ring and it?s straight towards you, but what now? Maidana left his heart inside the ring against Khan, but came out short handed. Does he look for a rematch? Take some time to rest and have a tune-up fight back in Argentina? Or does he jump right into trying to get another title shot from another fighter in the light welterweight division? It?s up in the air.
Unfortunately for Maidana, the choice more than likely won?t be up to him. In the post-fight interview, he said he would fight anybody, but the question is will anybody fight him? Timothy Bradley has outright publicly admitted he feared Maidana and I wouldn?t doubt that any of the other 140 pounders would concur. He exposed one of the supposedly said fighters that could possibly beat Mayweather, in Amir Khan.
I have to admit that I am not riding on the Amir Khan express like many these days. I do believe that Khan could ultimately become a great fighter, but never an elite. Khan?s main beef in his fight against Maidana was to prove that he had overcome his loss to Prescott and was endowed with a chin strong enough to withstand the power of someone like Maidana. In all fairness to Amir, he did accomplish that. Anyone who expected him to stand in front of Maidana and receive huge punches to prove his point, isn?t being fair. Amir showed he can take a punch, but just barely. The only thing that caused Maidana to lose this fight was his conditioning. In the 10th round, Maidana was about one punch away from knocking out Khan, but do to his clear exhaustion, he couldn?t pull it through. Amir was on his last leg and displayed why all the hype around him is exactly just that. Hype.
For Amir Khan to have the audacity to call out Mayweather alongside Freddie Roach, makes me scratch my head. A potential great fighter or not, at this level, Amir Khan?s immaturity in the basic ring generalship of a boxer is more than obvious. He lacked the natural reflex to simply hold when you are hurt. Instead he just backed away as Maidana continued to swing and land haymakers his way. He allowed himself to continually be bullied into the ropes and hit flush with Maidana uppercuts. The only reason I make a point about a fight with Mayweather is because I would be anything but surprised if the fight somehow was to come to fruition. We all know that in reality the only person who deserves to fight Mayweather is Pacquiao.
Unless Amir Khan plans on retirement before he?s 30, I strongly suggest he goes back to training at the Wild Card and learning to perfect his craft. He has no business in calling out any one of Mayweather?s caliber at this point in his career. On the other hand for Maidana, he?s been referred to as a dirty fighter inside the ring, but seems like a good guy outside of it. He isn?t sticking his nose in other?s business, but is just waiting for his right moment. A moment came against Amir Khan, but I guess not all nice guys finish last. Right?
