The fighter for whom Amir Khan was so unceremoniously dumped by Floyd Mayweather believes his elevation to next month?s Money fight has spared the boxing public a night of expensive tedium.
Marcos Maidana, not content with having gate-crashed Khan?s party, has added insult to the Englishman?s wounded pride by saying: ?If Amir had got this fight it would have been very boring.?
Since the one thing Khan has never been accused of is being unexciting, that requires explanation. When pressed Maidana adds: ?Both he and Mayweather are pure boxers. So, unlike me, neither of them would go on the attack.?
He does not mean to be disrespectful to the young man from Bolton, who inflicted one of just three defeats on his 37-fight record.
He is talking styles and says: ?Khan was one of the biggest fights of my career and also one of the toughest in my life. He?s a very good boxer.?
So good that four years ago in Las Vegas he staved off Maidana?s challenge for the world light welterweight title he held at the time despite being caught by one of the massive punches which have given the Argentine 31 knockouts in his 35 wins.
Despite his reputation for having a suspect chin, Khan survived that blow and several more big shots in that late round to take a unanimous decision.
Now he has lost to Maidana his May 3 date in Vegas with Mayweather. Not only that, he has to accept appearing on the undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a non-title fight against the awkward former champion Luis Collazo.
Not that Maidana is bothered about that, even though he admitted he was surprised to be a late choice for Mayweather, saying: ?Like everyone else I thought Khan had it.?
As we talked, hours before Manny Pacquiao?s brilliant righting of that wrong decision against Tim Bradley, his concern was with how to deal with the No 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Where Khan is lightning fast, the perceived wisdom is that Maidana is not quick enough to seriously trouble Mayweather.
To which he says: ?We?re working on speed every day and I?m getting quicker. But it?s not all about that. I?m also training harder than ever before so I can keep the pressure on Mayweather. I have that one-punch KO power in both hands but I won?t only be going for the head.
?Most of Floyd?s opponents have done that but his defence is so good. I will be putting some of my power into a lot more body shots than he usually gets.?
Also, as the underdog, he will ignore the ridicule he expects to come his way from the Mayweather camp, saying: ?I?m prepared to put up with them laughing at us. As we did before beating Adrien Broner.?
It was that upset victory over Broner which enabled Mayweather to deny Khan his promised opportunity and bring in the more orthodox Maidana.
But the man called El Chino recalls how Mayweather took more punches from Miguel Cotto in their recent fight and says: ?It looked as if at his age (37) Floyd might be slowing just a little. Cotto caught him a lot and I have more power than him. I?ll be throwing a lot of punches, like against Broner. I will catch Floyd at some point and when I do I will finish him.?
Is he oblivious to the 10-1 odds currently against him the casinos on the Strip?
?I like being the underdog,? he says. ?I know it will be a very difficult fight but I enjoy to give surprises.?
He is also fighting for his nation. Much of the conversation revolved around Carlos Monzon, the greatest of all Argentinian fighters, Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona.
