Khan vs. Maidana Aftermath. My Breakdown of the fight.

First off I'm gonna talk you through how I scored the fight. Then go through my pre-fight rating that I posted in another thread. And then explain my post-fight ratings. And where both fighters can go from here. My scorecard: Round 1: Khan 10-8 Lethal body-shot from Khan to put Maidana on his ass. A vicious, sickening and down-right nasty shot. Props to Maidana for getting back up. Another 30 seconds in the round and Khan could have capitalised further. R2: Khan 10-9 Khan used his jab and combos to great effect, same happened until the 6th. R3: Khan 10-9. R4: Khan 10-9. R5: Khan 10-8 Maidana was getting frustrated by his lack of success and was eating some clean shots from Khan at regular intervals. He blatently threw out an elbow in frustration and it happened to hit the ref. Cortez was right to deduct a point. In any other sports, if you show that kind of behaviour you will get reprimanded, e.g. football/soccer - if you disrespect or insult the referee, you will get a yellow card or even a red card. If you hit the ref then you're f*cked. If that elbow hit Khan and opened a cut, then it would have been a straight DQ. So Maidana fans cannot complain about it - especially Jack_Ripper. That dude was b*tching about it all night on his little radio show. What a cry baby! :bottle: Rounds 6 & 7: Maidana 10-9; Maidana 10-9 Maidana landed some good shots, had Khan reeling at times. Showed great heart to come back from 7 points down to get back into the fight. Khan's gameplan went to sh*t in these rounds, he got lazy and had no answer for Maidana's pressure. Rounds 8 & 9: Khan 10-9; Khan 10-9 Maidana gassed a bit and Khan took advantage. After Round 9 it looked like Khan was going to run away with it. Round 10: Maidana 10-8 10-8 round to Maidana as he rocked Khan hard with several shots. Khan went into survival-mode. He still had his bearings (somewhat!) and managed to dodge some big shots, back-off and clinch. Weathered the storm but almost out on his feet. Glass-jaw? I think not. I certainly didn't see a million pieces of shattered glass... Cortez should have let Maidana work a bit more on the inside. But Maidana landed several rabbit punches in the last few rounds, which is cheating, so you could say it balances it out. Round 11 & 12: Maidana 10-9; Maidana 10-9 Khan's head cleared half way through the 11th round and he landed several great shots, but Maidana was the aggressor and was busier so I gave the 11th to him. Khan hurt bad again in the 12th but held on. My score: 114-111 to Khan. Identical to two of the judges. Pre-fight ratings and post-fight ratings (in brackets): Speed: Khan, A+ (Same). Maidana, B- (Same) Power: Khan, B+ (A). Maidana, A+ (Same) Defense: Khan, B (Same) Maidana, C- (Same) Heart: Khan, A (A+) Maidana, A+ (Same) Chin: Khan, C (B-) Maidana, B (Same) The performance was as I expected from Maidana, showed great heart, power and guts. Khan showed his lightning speed that Maidana had no answer for at most times, his defense was solid at times too. Khan also dispelled the notion of him having a "China-chin". Most JWWs would have got knocked down by some of those punches landed by Maidana, but Khan stayed on his feet and showed great heart too. Khan was hurt bad, but was able to weather the storm. Khan took shots from a P4P top puncher and survived. In my opinion his chin is average - I say this because it's not as good as Ortiz's, who got hit with cleaner shots by Maidana but didn't get rocked as bad as Khan; Ortiz went down but wasn't jelly-legged like Khan. Khan was weight drained and walked on to shots at 135lbs, contributing to the notion that he was china-chinned. At 140 he's not drained and doesn't walk onto shots, he rides them better. His punch resistance is also going to increase at 147 and 154 when he moves up in weight. Khan won the fight fair and square (shut up INJECT/Jack_Ripper, stop crying and GTFO my thread!). Khan's win over Maidana is better than Bradley's win over Witter, Holt and Peterson. And is also better than Alexander's wins over Witter and Urango. Kotelnik got robbed against Alexander. Maidana gets big props from me, he's won me over as a fan. A true warrior with a lion's heart and fighting pride. My JWW rankings: 1) Khan WBA 2) BradleyWBO 3) Kotelnik (Rightful IBF and WBC champion. Soon to move to 147) 4) Alexander WBC 5) Maidana 6) Mabuza 7) Ortiz 8) Peterson 9) Matthysse 10) Urango 11) Malinaggi (Soon to move to 147) 12) Judah 13) Holt 14) Olusegun 15) McCloskey Khan is on top because he has defeated 3 of the top 11 fighters on that list (Kotelnik, wide UD. Malignaggi, TKO 11. Maidana, close UD). Bradley has defeated only 2 (Holt, UD. Peterson, wide UD). Alexander has beaten only 1 (Urango, TKO 8) and was defeated by Kotelnik. Kotelnik lost to Khan but beat Alexander IMO. I had Matthysse beating Judah so he's higher on the list. Former IBF champ Juan Urango slips due to inactivity. What's next? Khan took his mandatory and deserves to fight whoever he wants next, at home in the UK - his homecoming. A rematch with Maidana should happen further down the line. I think it will happen at Welterweight. Khan says he wants to keep busy and fight 3 times next year. He should fight in March and then take on the Bradley/Alexander winner in August (before Ramadan) if there is no rematch between them. Khan should fight one of those top-15 contenders next but Alexander, Bradley, Judah and Mabuza are all busy. Holt is coming off a loss and Urango has been inactive; they're both not game opponents therefore. Peterson and Ortiz should rematch, possibly on Khan's undercard? Malignaggi and Kotelnik are moving up in weight so perhaps Khan's only option is a domestic clash versus either McCloskey or Olusegun. Both are decent fighters but should not trouble Khan. It would serve as a keep-busy fight until the a fight with the Bradley/Alexander winner can be made. Maidana should eye a potential all-Argentinian clash with Lucas Matthysse. That would sell out in Argentina I'm sure. Or perhaps taking on either McCloskey or Olusegun would be a good fight for him. Anyway, he should keep active and eventually he'll get that rematch with Khan or another title shot against a different title-holder. Peace.