War of Words Between Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana Will End in the Ring

Added on Sep 24, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Golden Boy Promotions took another huge step in making this coming holiday season a merry one for fight fans as they officially announced yesterday that British superstar and WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan will be facing one of Argentina’s hardest hitters in interim champ, Marcos Maidana. The Mandalay BayResort & Casino has been named as the venue for the December 11 scheduled bout. The television rights to the bout are already spoken for as HBO World Championship Boxing will provide live coverage.

Oscar de la Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions said, “This is a fight the fans have asked for and we’re giving it to them as an early holiday present. I believe these are the two of the top 140-pound fighters in the world and with Khan’s speed and Maidana’s power, this fight is going to be explosive.”

Khan and Maidana have seemingly been on a collision course for about a year now with both of them taking swipes at each other through various media outlets.

Even before becoming a professional prize fighter, the boxing community was put on notice that Amir Khan was an amateur standout and would eventually make some noise as a pro. He chose to leave the amateur ranks not long after taking the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and defeated David Bailey in under two minutes in his pro debut. Over the next three years Khan fought all over the United Kingdom building upon both his resume and fanbase, but it wasn’t until he ran into Bredis Prescott that he really made headlines.

After just sharing the ring with Prescott for less than a single minute, Khan faced his first professional defeat that left many question his chin as well as his management for possibly exposing him to too much, too soon. Not long after the Prescott debacle, Khan called in former fighter turned trainer, Freddie Roach, to replace his former trainer of just two months, Jorge Rubio.

Being able to get in work with not only Roach but stablemate, Manny Pacquiao, proved to be paying off as he bounced back to produce five consecutive wins, with his four most recent coming against the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Andriy Kotelnik, Dmitry Salita and Paulie Malignaggi.

Khan looks to add Madaina’s name to that list in December.

“Maidana has been doing a lot of talking and he’s talked his way into a fight now,” said Khan. ”Unfortunately for him, his mouth isn’t going to help him in the ring and I’m going to prove to him that I’m on another level on December 11.”
As opposed to Khan, Maidana’s ascent through the boxing ranks occured with far less fanfare and headlines. He quietly amassed an 18-0 record over the first three years of his career in his native Argentina before taking a handful of fights in Germany. It would be on German soil that the fighter known as “Chino”, Maidana, would run into the only stumbling block of his career thus far.

It came in the form of former WBA junior welterweight champion Andris Kotelnik. Some would go on to suspect foul play as Maidana seemed to control the fight as he busted up Kotelnik on several occasions, but in the end two of the judges would award the bout to Kotelnik.

Down but not out, Maidana successfully rebounded by virtually beating Victor Ortiz into submission in their 2009. He went on to score to more stoppage wins over William Gonzalez and Victor Cayo before most recently picking up a one sided unanimous decision over verteran Demarcus Corley.

Now he prepares to finally get a chance to not only hand Khan another defeat but grab the very title that previously eluded him in the Kotelnik fight.

“Khan’s been running from me for a long time, but the running stops on December 11. I’ll show him how a champion acts and fights when we get into the ring in Las Vegas,” claimed Maidana.

Come December 11, there will be no more talks of one fighter outpricing himself nor will we hear about the other being avoided at all cost. As they make their way to the ring at the Mandalay bay it will finally be time for them to back up a years worth of claims.