by Robert Jackson: If Saturday nights fight had been a 15 rounder Khan may not have made it to the final bell. It can also be said that Khan fought a scrappy fight, showing his heart, determination and toughness. Others may say that Khan ran the final 4 rounds of the fight and was exposed. In any case Khan ended the night with a decision victory over the strongman from Argentina who also proved much to fight fans following a 1st round knockdown from a body shot from Khan that had him badly hurt..
It just could be that Khan underestimated Maidana, with all of his prefight talk about fighting Mayweather and a quick KO over the Argentinean. Could be that Maidana is just ‘tough as nails’ and wanted to prove something Saturday nite, which he did. Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley who have a date in January to fight each other couldn’t have been more pleased with what they saw Saturday night. And, there was no talk from Khan during the post fight interview about fighting Mayweather or anybody in particular.
The aftermath of Saturday nite’s fight must be a humbling experience for the winner Khan who looked the ‘worst for wear’ and weathered the storm of the last 3 or 4 rounds of the fight after building up an early lead. On top of it all Roach considered stopping the fight during the 10th round and the referee Cortez could’ve waved off that fight at any time during the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds, rounds where Khan absorbed a great deal of punishment.
In the final analysis it must be said that Khan is not there yet, he’s a work in progress. Beating Alexander, Bradley or Mayweather for that matter won’t be so easy and those KO predictions that Roach makes, hard to live up to. Another impossibility at this point would be a rematch with Brandeis Prescott who handed Khan his only loss by KO. One step forward and 2 steps back is what fighting Prescott would be for Khan.
Moving forward expect Khan to possibly fight Zab Judah who’s reward is just as big as the risk, pushing the showdown with the Bradley/Alexander winner late into 2011, especially if the winner dominates. And, Mayweather? Not this year, his name will just be brought up to keep Khan relevant in the sense that he wants to eventually fight the P4P fighter. Styles do indeed make fights and Maidana is a tough fight for anyone at 140lbs, but Mayweather is much more as a fighter than Maidana and would make easy work of Khan at this point in his development. This past Saturday nite Khan abandoned the teachings of Freddie Roach and while under pressure returned to the fight style he employed prior to Roach’s tenure, but showed us a lot in doing so!!