Tonight Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) will defend his WBA jr welterweight title as he takes on the hard punching Argentine Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas.

The classic match up of the brawler vs the boxer has yielded fine results in the past – just off the top of my head I can think of a few great ones like Chavez vs Taylor, Robinson vs Lamotta, Chuvalo vs Patterson and more recently Soto vs Antillon.

Seeing the boxer on his toes jabbing and moving as the other man comes looking for him, pressuring him, making him uncomfortable, closing the distance forcing the boxer the have to spin-off the ropes and get back to the center of the ring – these are the actions we love seeing in these types of matchups. And then the best thing of all is when the boxer decides to fight and mix it up a bit as it can often provide explosive results. Having to dig deep and pull something out of the bag when necessary is something that sometimes has to happen when two fighters are so easily matched.

However tonight is slightly different.

On paper Khan has all the advantages height, reach, speed and youth. But when you get knocked out in 60 seconds in your first major pay per view then naturally questions surface about the quality of your chin. Since that Prescott knockout Khan has rebuilt himself under the tutelage of veteran trainer Freddie Roach to great results. But let’s not make any bones about it he has been matched well.

After disposing of Oisin Fagan in two rounds three months after his first loss it was time for promoter Frank Warren to relaunch Khan and his first step was getting by the legendary Marco Antonio Barrera. But Barrera was merely just a name on the resume as his skills had eroded and he was fighting way above his prefered weight.

It was a hard pill to swallow for many that only two fights removed from a brutal first round knockout Khan was challenging for his first world title. But he pitched a shutout against Andriy Kotelnik who has since proved he is an elite fighter at 140 by taking Devon Alexander to the brink in their last fight just credit where it’s due this win was very credible indeed.

So Khan was ready for the big boys now right he’s the champ well not quite. Marcos Maidana’s name came into the picture at this time as he was the mandatory challenger to Khan’s WBA title but as often happens in boxing Maidana was provided some step aside money with the promise that he would fight Khan later down the line when both were bigger names at could make more money makes business sense right?

So in came ??Dmitriy Salita – then out came Salita in one round needless to say it wasn’t the toughest defense of the title I had ever seen.

Then Khan left the comfy shores of his own country (and his promoter) and joined up with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions who matched him up (some say perfectly) with Paulie Malignaggi.

It was viewed as a soft touch for Khan throwing him in with a guy that only has 6 KOs in his whole career but Malignaggi proved with his win over Juan Diaz that he is problem that has to be solved only the quicker, younger stronger lion ended up tearing him apart and only the merciful Steve Smoger could save him.

Marcos Maidana has not had the padded resume that Khan he has earned his shot the hard way and I’m sure when Golden Boy matched him up against Victor Ortiz, who takes on Lamont Peterson on the same card, they weren’t expecting what was then to follow.

Ortiz got dragged into a fight he didn’t want and Maidana broke his will that night and left many to question whether the seemingly polite nice kid had the heart for such a brutal sport as this (we may find out tonight when he takes on Peterson in his first real test since the loss to Maidana).

And that’s what Maidana must do tonight if he is to be successful. He has to drag Khan into a dogfight pressure him, maul him, resort to dirty tactics if need be – anything to bring Khan out of his comfort zone and get him to trade recklessly because if Khan stays at the right distance with Maidana on the end of his jab it’s going to be a very long night for the guy from Argentina.

Last time out he couldn’t even look good against  Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley but with a strength and conditioning coach now added and new trainer Miguel Diaz Maidana will surely come in more motivated, this is his big chance to derail yet another future star. Can he dim the light of Khan or maybe shut it off altogether?

We’ll have to wait and see.

There is one other thing I want to get off my chest before moving on though. If Khan wins this fight he still isn’t the best at 140 lbs I believe that will be decided when the winner of Bradley vs Alexander takes on the winner of this fight and if Tim Bradley were to beat Alexander he in my eyes would be the man at 140 for the moment simply because while I believe Khan to be the most talented, Bradley has taken a tougher road to the top and deserves the accolades of being the top fighter in the division until I see evidence to the contrary.

The fight that comes before the main event may provide the most competitive action of the night though as “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KOs) fights Lamont Peterson 28-1, 14 KOs) in what should be a great boxing match. Peterson came up short against Bradley but who hasn’t he certainly showed in that fight that he has great heart and will throw caution to the wind if things aren’t going his way against a fighter like Bradley that didn’t pay dividends but against Ortiz that could be different.

The conventional wisdom after seeing what Ortiz went through in his fight with Maidana is that he can be rattled he can be got to you just have to be brave enough to attempt it. Ortiz is one of the bigger punchers at 140 though so I’m not sure how quickly Peterson wants to find that out he elect to box Ortiz and hope he can get the job done that way if not he may have no choice but to try to lure Ortiz into a bit of a scrap.

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