My honest take on Amir Khan vs Maros Maidana

I watched this fight live however I was too nervous and on edge to really take in my honest thoughts. So i rewatched it today and scored the fight and made notes all the way through. Bear in mind i was being critical as i could with Kahn:

Khan - Maidana scorecard

10 - 8 (knockdown)
10 - 9
9 - 10
10 - 9
10 - 8 (point deducted)
9 - 10
9 - 10
10 - 9
10 - 9
9 - 10
9 - 10
9 - 10

114 - 112 (Jim Watt had Kahn winning by 6 rounds lmao... he even had Kahn winning the 11th lol!)

Up to around round 5 Khan provided a real masterclass... quick speedy combinations. good use of the jab, boxed and moved, he got caught a couple of times but was never hurt... seriously impressed at this point. He seemed to move like pacquiao at some points.. (not a bad thing lol)

The fight could of been very different with another ref. Cortez let Kahn push maidana away and did not allow any clinching which really worked into Khans favour.

Round 1 - what a round! Maidana came storming out... didnt touch gloves with khan and swung for him. He really meant buisness. Khan caught maidana with an amazing body shot.. put him down.. it was cotto like. he should use the body shot alot more in the future.

Kahn can only box at range. He really made this fight much harder than it should of been. He stopped jabbing after the 5th round and as a result Maidana just walked straight through him turning it into a war. And why oh why did Khan stop going to the body? Maidana was badly hurt in the first.... another ref may of stopped that fight... however he just completely left it which i dont understand. Also it was incredibly apparant that he still needs to work on lateral movement. But this will come with time.

Round 5 onwards - This was the decline of Khan. He Lost his discipline too easily and kept on exchanging with the flurries (which are very vulnerable to counters at times) instead of boxing which made the fight harder than it should of been.

rounds 7 onwards - Stopped sitting down on his punches and wasn't effecting Maidana at all and Maidana began to walk kahn down.

Khan was Very! Vulnerable to the uppercut (a roach trait as with pacquiao?). He constantly sat on the ropes with no movement and just ate the uppercut...? Copying Pacquiao lying back in the ropes recieving uppercuts and clapping. Bad idea.. Maybe he did this to put on a show, show he has a chin? Pacquiao often does the same... we saw this against margarito especially

The later stages saw the return of old piston arms Khan! By this i mean he reverted back to the old days were he would throw lots of weak flurries... sure they look good but they dont provide any real damage.. His power seemed to dissapear. .

I also noticed the only advice roach was giving in the corner was for attack. Freddy Roach = an attack minded trainer/fighter (look at his fighting style when he was fighting getting ko'd etc as he now has parkinsons disease, no offence). I would really like to see him work with Khan on his defence and teach him how to deal with pressure. Pacquiao is the same.. he gets hit way to easy. but his defence is his attack which he can afford to do, however Khan can not.

Khans hands kept on dropping in the late rounds... no longer did he have a tight guard and Maidana was landing waaaay to many

Round 10 - Punches losing snap now, pitter patter punches.
Then the HUGE SHOT! landed by Maidana, i was so impressed with Khan at this point... i could not believe he survived, he was dead on his feet. He stumbled back to his corner and i really thought that was it for Khan. Roach needs to teach Khan to hold when hurt but having said that he coped better than ANYONE! could ever imagine.

Overall Kahn has a good chin in my opinion now and good punch resistance. He took huge shots! a couple even flush on the chin and took constant punishment from 10th round onwards which would of stop many fighters.

He has toughness and heart, though will have problems with good pressure fighters if he fights like this in the future. Prime Hatton would of stopped Kahn tonight.

Ariza won the fight for Kahn tonight not Roach.

what are your thoughts? You disagree with any of that?

i predicted a UD or late tko for Khan. but thought it would be a much easier night for Khan. I truely am elated for him.

This was a great lesson for Khan and i feel he will go on to great things! We all knew his talent.. but doubted his toughness and chin.. he has now shown us he can stand in there and trade with world class opposition. This truely is great times for us British boxing fans.. him along side Froch and Haye... and maybe even the future star Degale (lol) as much as it pains me to say it.

 

Good points.. the only thing i dont agree with is Khan having the worst chin in the sport... granted its still not good but its no langer Glass.

Like the idea of him studying hopkins defence, hopefully all this will come with time... hes improved so much already.. time is on his side

 

I was debating whether or not i should score it a 10-8 but as there was no knockdown... i felt khan deserved to keep it a 10-9

easily debatable though

 

paha just noticed the first... edited...

the 2nd.... im not changing lol

 

Lmao it sure sounds entertaining though... i must of had cotto on the brain when typing lol

 

Yeah.... It was very close to being stopped..

If that happend earlier on in the fight it would of most proberly been lights out for khan.

As i was watching the 10th i just convinced myself at this point he would be knocked out.. and that he had made a good account of himself so he still has a career at the top