Thinking about it, I don't think that fight could have gone any better for him. If he'd have waltzed through Maidana, his flaws would have been white-washed over again. But being in a tougher fight than I'm sure he ever imagined, will do him the world of good I'm sure, like the Prescott fight. In the end, he's come out with the win against a top 140lb fighter albeit in less impressive fashion than he would have liked. But he'll learn a lot from that fight, he's not the type to get disheartened by a struggle like that and he'll pick himself up and continue to improve. It's clear he needs some work on his defence and on handling pressure as a whole, and it's good that those flaws have been exposed before he gets in with the likes of Bradley/Alexander/even Mayweather and not while he's in the ring with any of those sorts of guys. And chin wise, he'll take a lot of confidence from having taken some bombs in that fight. If he didn't truely believe that his chin had improved at the higher weight, he does now. Maybe knowing he can take a dig now will contribute towards him being cooler and more composed under constant pressure. -- Oh, and to Zakman, HomoJermone, Glasscock Pinhead Spadafora, nice predictions. Once again, you've failed to predict a Khan fight right. Seems he didn't get laid out, just like he didn't against ***an, Kotelnik, Salita or Malignaggi. You are now all 0-5 in Khan's last 5 fights. Good job you ****s. Once again letting your irrational and illogical hate cloud your judgement and you all end up looking like idiots, once again. And you still can't give Khan credit. Complaining about refs, saying he was lucky and he'll get knocked out next time. Keep predicting Khan knockout losses, we're all enjoying the laugh we get at your expense afterwards. :rofl
If Maidana would of stayed down in the first from the body shot, haters would of just dismissed Maidana as some bum. But now Khan is getting hate for the most ridiculous reasons and most of them are coming from a certain fanbase (I wont say who) saying that Khan needs to fight like a "slick" fighter.
i was just about to a start a similar thread myself. we all know he can box. He proved that by outboxing a very good boxer in Malignaggi. We knew he had speed and we knew he was fantastic skills. even the biggest haters admit that. What we didnt know is his chin. And the manner of the fight was perfect for khan. He proved beyond doubt he has the chin and the heart and the desire. Im not worried about his defence. When he stuck to the plan his defence was fine. its when he got drawn into a brawl and moved away from the game plan and wanted to go all macho that he started getting caught. But Maidana isnt just your ordinary brawler. i dont think anyone at 140 can outbox him for 12 rounds. Sooner or later he will drag you into a streetfight and catch you I cant see bradley/alexander outboxing khan. And it seems they cant KO him either. Like you said, best possible outcome
That was a terrific fight, both showed great heart maidana when he got hit with thge body shot and came back even though it looked like it split him in half and khan in taking the punishment and coming back with exchanges knowing he could have been derailed in an instant. he could have boxed alot better and i honestly thought it would have been a near shutout but it was clear that khan wanted to prove doubters wrong by showing his new found ability to take a punch, he has nothing to worry about now as long as he keeps doing what he is doing. He needs to stop doing that cringeworthy arm raise that many does, stick to your on ****.
:deal I cannot believe I came onto here and found such negativity after a performance like that. Then again I shouldn't be surprised by anything I find in the general at this point. Both fighters deserved a lot of credit, in fact Maidana has gone up in my eyes.
I agree that Khan showed all the things needed to go very far in boxing, including a greatly improved chin. Although he boxed great at times it obviously wasnt his best performance but im sure Freddie Roach will continue to help Khan improve and make sure he sticks to more disciplined boxing in the future. I cant stand listening to all these excuses from the people who hate Khan complaining about the ref and ther things. Its ****ing annoying and is taking credit away from everything Khan showed in the Madiana fight
If Khan hadn't suffered that knockout loss, people wouldn't still be on here saying he still has a weak chin and that he was fortunate. If Khan went into that fight having never been hit cleanly on the chin and it was completely untested, people would be coming out saying that Khan has a good chin. He took the best shots from one of - if not the hardest - punchers in his division. Over-rate rights, left uppercuts inside, he took left hooks to the body well. Sure he got rocked badly in round 10, but that was a peach of a punch. And nobody would have expected him to take that pre-fight. And he survived even though there was still a good 2 minutes to go. And he still took punishment in that round, he took a 4 punch combination on the ropes not soon after, right hand, left hook, right hand and another left and stayed up. The Khan we saw at 135 would have never have made it out of that round. He wouldn't have stayed up from that initial right hand, or some of the shots even in the opening minute of the right, let alone taken all that punishment throughout the rest of round 10. He got a bit of a pasting for the most part in round 12 aswell, weathered the shots and came back with some great shots of his own. Forget 135, Khan's chin has evidently improved since then and getting dropped and knocked out at the lower weight is beyond him. I'll judge his chin on what I've seen at 140 and on that evidence, it's at the least solid. I'm not saying he won't be hurt again, or dropped, or even knocked out. But I as a fan feel more confident now that he can take big shots and hold his own. He proved a lot of people wrong last night in more ways than one. The problems he has are still leaks in his defence, he never turned his palm inwards once to block those left-uppercuts, he still got caught with a few over-hand rights, and he needs big, big work on his ability to handle pressure and a guy cutting off the ring. Offensively he's got it all going for him though, great composite punching skills, he can switch it up to the body or head, he's evidently got some power at least, great hand speed as we all know and accurate punching. The only worries I have like I said are pressure. I don't think he matches up well with guys like Maidana who remotely close off the ring and pressure him looking to land power punches and go for the knockout, in the end it was the class that told through (I scored the fight 115-110 btw), I think he matches up far better with the likes of Bradley. Can he beat Bradley though? Who knows, but he's got a good shot.
