Khan-Maidana: Look for Amir’s fragile chin to get cracked on December 11th

By Scott Gilfoid: from boxingnews World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) will be facing his biggest threat since 2008 when he takes on knockout artist Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) on December 11th. In a lot of ways, this fight reminds me a lot of the Enzo Maccarinelli vs. Alexander Frenkel bout last Saturday night. Khan, 23, comes into the Maidana bout with a fragile chin and will be in constant danger of being knocked out by the hard hitting Maidana for as long as this fight lasts. Khan was knocked out the last time he fought a hard puncher two years ago against Breidis Prescott in a 1st round knockout loss. Since that fight, Khan hasn’t faced any knockout threats, as he’s been put in with fighters that can’t crack an egg. This has allowed Khan to flourish and look good. In contrast, Maccarinelli didn’t shy away from facing big punchers after being knocked out by David Haye in 2008. Maccarinelli then went up against big punchers in Ola Afolabi, Denis Lebedev and Alexander Frenkel, and was knocked out by each of them. I have a feeling that Khan would have been knocked out just as many times had he continued to face knockout threats after the loss to Prescott. But on December 11th, I see Khan suffering his next brutal knockout against Maidana. It’s not that I don’t think that Khan has great boxing skills. He’s an excellent fighter with nice hand speed and decent power. The problem is he doesn’t have a chin to go along with it, and as hard as Maidana hits, he’s probably going to break Khan into a million pieces when he connects to Khan’s chin at some point in the fight. You can’t beat a fighter like Maidana by running around the ring for 12 rounds and never getting hit. In his controversial loss to Andriy Kotelnik in 2009, the Ukrainian fighter looked like he had walked through a meat grinder by the end of the fight. Both lips were busted, his nose looking broken, his face red and swollen everywhere. Kotelnik got the win, but the punishment he took in that fight was brutal. And to top it off, Kotelnik won what many boxing fans felt was a hometown decision. But I don’t think Khan can take the kind of punishment that Kotelnik absorbed in his fight with Maidana. I don’t see Khan as having the chin to be able to stand up to that kind of punishment without dropping for the 10 count. Kotelnik looked like he had been run over by a truck, and that was with him running from Maidana for 12 rounds. Can you imagine what Kotelnik would have looked like had he stood and traded with Maidana? Hitman's Take: Here is the video of rounds 11 and 12 of the Maidana-Kotelnik fight. For those who think Maidana can be simply outboxed consider that this is the same Kotelnik who for the most part completely outboxed Devon Alexander yet somehow ended up coming out of the Maidana fight looking like he had been in a car accident. As this author said Kotelnik's nose looks busted, both lips busted, both eyes swollen. You can see it in this video at 9:13 And this is a man who is a far superior boxer to Maidana and an excellent defensive fighter, yet he could not keep Maidana at bay. Thankfully for Kotelnik he is tough as nails and has a world class chin that carried him until the end where the judges saved him. Khan won't be so lucky.