Young Brit Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO's) is looking to make his mark by defending against hard charging Marcos "Rene" Maidana (29-1, 27 KO's). They will battle on HBO next Saturday in what is sure to be a fight full of fireworks. Khan is fresh off a solid training camp which included sparring with Filipino phenom Manny Pacquiao alongside mutual trainer Freddie Roach. Khan has been involved with ups and downs which included dark nights like the one he had versus Breidis Prescott (KO 1), and bright spots like he demonstrated versus Paulie Malignaggi. It is a crossroads type of fight between two fighters who are seemingly unaware that the loser of this fight will probably be ushered into a much lesser place in boxing.
It's WIN and YOU'RE IN... for either fighter.
For Khan it can be like jumping into the same articles and conversations among the top fighters like Mayweather, Pacquiao, Martinez, and Andre Ward. People will forget and dismiss past blemishes like Prescott if he can humiliate Maidana. Maidana in his own right will have a chance to prove that the Ortiz beatdown was no fluke. He will get a chance to secure atleast two good fights if he wins. He can move on and challenge the winner of Tim Bradley and Devon Alexander. Win or lose that.. he can always rematch Ortiz in a match that HBO would love to add to their boxing calendar.
Amir Khan is the better boxer. Fluid hips and excellent footwork. He sets his feet very well and really places punches accurately. He doesn't waste his shots and sits very well on his punches. Speed is the name of the game for him as he possesses elite handspeed and a beautiful jab to go along with great ring awareness. His weakness comes in the form of his chin, heart and fighting backwards. His defense has greatly improved since he was abruptly halted by Prescott, and we'll se about his chin.
Maidana is the man on a mission who is the man with more heart. He comes forward with great confidence and applies pressure. He has decent handspeed and a huge right hand. His attack comes in the form of mass volume. He throws lots of deadly punches.... back to back...to back. He will probably look to dig in and hunt Khan. He will look for openings to the body, he will clinch, and make it an ugly fight. Maidana's best chance lies with much head movement, defense and effective counter punching. If he counter punches effectively, he will batter Khan.
RigoBox Chance to win: Khan 60%/Maidana 40%
RigoBox Prediction: Khan by MD12
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment