Comments Thread For: Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana Trade Words at London Presser

[Dave Rado]

Expected, sure why not? Unrealistic? How so?
Personally, I don't think comparing boxing to those other sports is realistic. A team sport, or a sport where you aren't getting hit in the face and body isn't comparable IMO.
But besides that, these guys are being paid thousands on the low end, hundreds of thousands and upward in to the millions in some cases, and we shouldn't expect them to come in their best shape every time? I don't get your reasoning on that.
Maidana was huffing and puffing like a 2 pack a day smoker after the 1st round. If not for the sake of looking good, but for themselves, why would they want to come in unprepared in any fight? In the first place, it's not like Corley has a history of being an easy opponent. He may not have the best record, but dude comes to fight everytime.
But, I do however give Maidana credit for persistance. There were times it looked almost painful for him to take another step or like he was going to fall over from exhaustion, yet he would take a deep breath and move forward. I think he got by in that fight by grit alone.
TBH, the only time I could really excuse a fighter for being out of shape is those fighters who are still having to work and train. But a fighter who has a 6-8 week training camp without having to worry about going to a job, not coming out in great physical condition? How do you excuse that? I certainly don't consider it being 'unrealistic' to expect that they give a 100% in training camp and come out conditioned as such.

Sugar Ray Robinson lost 19 fights, several of them in his prime, some of those to fighters who were vastly inferior to him, yet he is regarded as the greatest P4P fighter of all time. Almost all athletes have bad nights, and in the days when boxers fought a lot more frequently than they do now, that used to be taken for granted, which is why multiple rematches used to be so much more common than they are now. Ted "Kid" Lewis fought Jack Britton 20 times. Ray Robinson and LaMotta fought 6 times. But nowadays, when they fight far less frequently, they're expected to be at their best in every performance, and IMO that simply isn't possible for most people. Everyone has days when everything they try comes off, and they seem to be unable to do anything wrong, and other days when nothing you try seems to work. Every footballer, tennis player and golfer has runs of good form and runs of bad form, and footballers, tennis player and golfers get paid far more on average than boxers do. (Boxing is probably the most unequal of all sports in terms of pay, as most professional boxers earn a pittance and a tiny number of elite fighters earn mega-bucks).

Dawson recently had a bad night against Pascal. I'm sure he'll do much better in the rematch if it happens. Mosley has had many runs of bad form and other runs of great form.

I doubt Maidana was paid very much for the Corley fight, and I'm sure he under-estimated Corley, because of the fact that Corley has lost two recent fights to journeymen. Plus as someone else said, his managerial problems probably screwed him mentally and made it hard for him to focus.

There's a long history of fighters taking tune-ups in preparation for a big fight, under-estimating their opponent, not being fully focussed for whatever reason, and performing badly. De La Hoya against Sturm and Judah against Boldomir spring to mind as obvious examples, but there are many others. Shit happens.

But the Khan fight is by far the biggest opportunity to shine on a big stage of Maidana's career, by far his biggest payday so far, and he'll never have a better chance to win a title, because of Khan's weak chin and suspect stamina when under pressure (see the last 2 rounds of the Khan-Kotelnik fight). And it's not as if Maidana has a track record of having stamina problems - his stamina held up fine in his fight with Kotelnik.

I'm sure he'll be alright on the night.

[Hard Boiled]

I doubt Maidana was paid very much for the Corley fight, and I'm sure he under-estimated Corley, because of the fact that Corley has lost two recent fights to journeymen. Plus as someone else said, his managerial problems probably screwed him mentally and made it hard for him to focus.

There's a long history of fighters taking tune-ups in preparation for a big fight, under-estimating their opponent, not being fully focussed for whatever reason, and performing badly. De La Hoya against Sturm and Judah against Boldomir spring to mind as obvious examples, but there are many others. Shit happens.

But the Khan fight is by far the biggest opportunity to shine on a big stage of Maidana's career, by far his biggest payday so far, and he'll never have a better chance to win a title, because of Khan's weak chin and suspect stamina when under pressure (see the last 2 rounds of the Kotelnik fight). And it's not as if Maidana has a track record of having stamina problems - his stamina held up fine in his fight with Kotelnik.

I'm sure he'll be alright on the night.

Actually your wrong, Maidanas stamina was terrible against Corley, His mouth was wide open and he was panting like there was no tomorrow. Khan did get tired in the last two rounds against Kotelnik but his work rate in that fight was huge and it was his first fight at the 140lb weight.

I think Khan -V- Maidana is gonig to be like Sugar Ray Leonard -V- Marvin Hagler, Maidana being the Hagler. Its going to be a good fight either way, But I see Khan boxing and moving the whole night, Making Maidana miss and countering with flashy showboat combinations and getting a UD. But with Maidanas power anything can happen.

Thats what makes it a great fight.

[Dave Rado]

Actually your wrong, Maidanas stamina was terrible against Corley,

You didn't read my post properly. My whole point was that it was terrible against Corley but that that was the first time it had ever been bad, and it was fine against Kotelnik. Are you claiming it was terrible against Kotelnik, or in any other fight prior to the Corley one? Because if you aren't then I am not wrong.

I think Khan -V- Maidana is gonig to be like Sugar Ray Leonard -V- Marvin Hagler

That was an extremely close fight, which many scored to Hagler. Leonard took a lot of vicious body shots in the middle rounds. Khan had better not take as many body shots as Leonard did, because if he does, he's in trouble. But Hagler was one of the most skilful boxer-punchers of all time, and one of the most complete fighters, plus Leonard had a great chin and had far more natural ring intelligence than Khan, so the analogy doesn't really work for me.

[wazaa.]

You didn't read my post properly. My whole point was that it was terrible against Corley but that that was the first time it had ever been bad, and it was fine against Kotelnik. Are you claiming it was terrible against Kotelnik? Because if you aren't then I am not wrong.

Yeah but Dave, Kotelnik is very stationary. Maidana didn´t have to move alot in that fight. Amirs uses his legs alot nowadays so I expect Maidana to get tired.

[Dave Rado]

Yeah but Dave, Kotelnik is very stationary. Maidana didn´t have to move alot in that fight. Amirs uses his legs alot nowadays so I expect Maidana to get tired.

If Maidana can land body shots reasonably regularly then Amir is likely to be the one who gets tired first. We'll see, but I believe Maidana's game plan will be to try to bully Khan to the ropes whenever he can, and then land body shots, and a lot depends on whether he has any success in doing that. But I believe Maidana will be in his best shape for this fight, and Khan had better be prepared for that.

Also, Maidana kept attacking Corley for all 12 rounds, despite the fact that his stamina was terrible in that fight, and he was looking tired from the second round onwards. And I believe he'll be far fitter against Khan. Even if he does tire in the late rounds against Khan, he will never stop being dangerous.

[wazaa.]

If Maidana can land body shots reasonably regularly then Amir is likely to be the one who gets tired first. We'll see, but I believe Maidana's game plan will be to try to bully Khan to the ropes whenever he can, and then land body shots, and a lot depends on whether he has any success in doing that. But I believe Maidana will be in his best shape for this fight, and Khan had better be prepared for that.

I disagree. Even if Maidana has a gameplan to hit Amir alot to the body I think he will be enforced to put his hands up. Amir will not go to Maidana's body because of the risk envolved in that. Amirs gonna throw stiff accurate stiff jabs and follow up with a possible straight. The punches will sting Maidana and will enforce him to keep his hands up.

I also expect some tight left hooks from Amir.

[wazaa.]

Amir will not brawl with Maidana but he won't be on his bike either. Because he will;eventually get caught when being on the bike. Freddie will have a superb gameplan for Amir. I can't wait for this fight.

[Mr Punch]

I’ve seen a number of Amir Khan’s fights and pretty much in every case where he was hit with a good shot, he was either staggered, knocked down or knocked out. The thing of it is Khan has only been in with one big puncher in his career and that was Breidis Prescott, who flattened him in one round. Maidana will knock Khan out.

[wazaa.]

I’ve seen a number of Amir Khan’s fights and pretty much in every case where he was hit with a good shot, he was either staggered, knocked down or knocked out. The thing of it is Khan has only been in with one big puncher in his career and that was Breidis Prescott, who flattened him in one round. Maidana will knock Khan out.

Did Amir get staggered at 140?

[Hard Boiled]

Did Amir get staggered at 140?

He was down once at 140 against Rachild Drilzane for the IBF Inter-continental light welterweight title, But his foot was stuck in the ropes.

140lbs is where he should be, 135lbs made no sense.