By Robert Morales
During the last week, more than a handful of fighters have attacked the credibility of WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Ricard Schaefer is peeved that any fighter would belittle Khan's accomplishments.
Khan went into his title defense against Marcos Maidana last month in Las Vegas with a chin many deemed questionable because he was knocked out by Breidis Prescott in the first round in September 2008.
In Maidana, Khan was facing the hardest puncher in the 140-pound division. Khan decked Maidana in the first round with a vicious body punch and was in control until the 10th when Maidana hurt him badly with a right cross and a subsequent barrage of head punches that had Khan jelly-legged for some time.
Khan never tasted the canvas, and he went on to retain his title with a unanimous decision. It was an enormous show of courage in a fight that landed on the Boxing Writers Association of America ballot for Fight of the Year.
"Anybody who is going to come and try and belittle Amir Khan's accomplishments and his heart and his will to win really should maybe watch the Khan-Maidana replay," Schaefer said to BoxingScene.com. "Anybody who is going to accuse Amir Khan of not having a chin or being pampered or not having heart, watch that fight again.
"And if they are still feeling he is being pampered and has no heart and no chin, then I think there might be something wrong with them."
Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, and BoxingScene.com.
