By Rick Reeno
Las Vegas, Nevada - WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17KOs) is only a few hours away from the biggest fight of his life. Later tonight he enters the ring to make the third defense of his title against WBA interim-king Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27KOs) at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. A former 2004 Olympic gold medalist while representing the United Kingdom, Khan will be after his sixth straight win since the brutal 54-second knockout at the hands of Breidis Prescott in September of 2008.
Like several of Khan's past opponents, Maidana has promised to crack Khan's chin in the same exact fashion as Prescott. Back then, Khan was draining himself to make the lightweight limit of 135-pounds. The hiring of veteran trainer Freddie Roach has done wonders for his career. Khan's defensive and offensive skills continue to improve with each passing fight.
"At the time I was killing myself to make weight. I was just going in there and just doing my own stuff and thinking that I'm going to win fights easier. Since I've been with Freddie I've never been dropped, I've won every round and my defense has improved dramatically," Khan told BoxingScene.com.
"Everyone talks about the Prescott fight. [Dmitry] Salita, [Andreas] Kotelnik, [Paulie] Malignaggi...all they would talk about was the Prescott fight. And then when I went in there I knocked those guys out or beat them up easy. The same thing can happen again. Over the last few months I've really matured as a fighter and I'm going to make the same mistakes that I've made against other fighters."
However, Khan understands that Maidana is by far more dangerous than Salita, Malignaggi and Kotelnik. For nearly a year, the boxing public was hounding Khan to fight Maidana. It was perceived that he was avoiding Maidana because of his ability to knock people out. Khan blames the business side of boxing for the long delay in the fight taking place.
"This is a risky fight for me and Maidana. Both of us want to be the best and we have to fight each other. That's the reason why we're having this fight. The reason the fight didn't happen at first was because of financial reasons. But now it's happening because Maidana made his name in America. I made my name in America, and HBO and other TV companies are very excited to have this fight. It's boxer vs. puncher and speed vs. power. It's a fight the whole world wants, not only boxing fans," Khan said.
"We know how stong he is. He can knock people out. If he cannot hit you, how is he going to catch you to knock you out? Then you have to look at speed. He's going to get hit with shots that he's not going to see. He's going to get frustrated and those are the shots that knock you out - the shots you don't see."
Khan, and his trainer, have studied hours of tape on Maidana. According to Khan, they discovered two important characteristics about Maidana. They believe he doesn't fight well going backwards and they noticed his signature power begins to fade in the second half of the fight. In order to exploit those characteristics, Khan will have to be brave and place himself in the line of fire.
"There is going to come a time when were are going to put the pressure on. He thinks we're going to run. We're not going to run. We're going to put the pressure on him. And we've seen it in a few fights where he doesn't do well on the backfoot. When he gets put on the backfoot, he's always been dropped or gets hurt. We've seen it with Victor Ortiz and we've seen it with other fighters," Khan said.
"And another thing. He's going to come running for the first half of the fight. He's going to try his best, but we just have to stick to our game plan. We just have to do what we do best. We're not going to stand there and punch with him and fight with him and fight his fight. We're going to fight my fight."
Despite the danger, Khan seems to have a very relaxed approach. He won't get overconfident or allow himself to underestimate Maidana's abilities. Roach drafted a specific plan to beat Maidana, and Khan has promised to execute that plan.
"At the end of the day, I'm not going to go in there and think that I'm better than him or faster than him. I'm going to think that I've done all my homework and I know exactly what to do and stick to the plan and listen to instructions from my corner," Khan said.