A few weeks after Juan Manuel Marquez lost to Floyd Mayweather, rumors swirled that Golden Boy Promotions was lining him up to battle Amir Khan (23-1-0, 17 KOs). However, Nacho Beristain, the head trainer of Marquez, quickly shot down the idea saying that Marquez needed a fight to bounce back from the defeat first before taking on a dangerous fighter in Khan.

Khan, a British Pakistani currently residing in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, scrambled to fight a top-ranked light welterweight. Luckily for him, another big fight opened up as Marcos Rene Maidana (29-1-0, 27 KOs) stepped up to the plate. Khan and Maidana will be fighting for the WBA light welterweight title.

Khan is an all-around fighter. He has speed, power, agility, stamina, and ring smarts. However, the biggest flaw in his game is his ability to take a punch. He lost via first round knockout to Bredis Presscot back in 2008. After that loss, he became the butt of jokes with fight fans branding him glass-jawed and renaming him “A Mere Con.” After the terrible loss, Khan ditched his trainer and made the best decision of his life. He hired Freddie Roach.

Since then he has racked up four straight wins, two were shutout decision and two were knockouts but his past four opponents are not really known as big punchers.

With Maidana, Khan will be facing arguably the most powerful puncher in the division. If there is a fighter in the light welterweight division who can test Khan’s jaw, it is Maidana.

The native of Argentina is arguably the biggest puncher in the division. The lone loss of Maidana’s career came from a disputed split decision verdict against Andriy Kotelnik, who fought with a homecourt advantage.

The challenge for Khan is to keep the aggressive Maidana off him and use his speed and agility to move out of harm’s way. Maidana on the other hand needs to stay focused and keep attacking. This fight will surely be an all-out battle between the two young fighters.

Hopefully, the winner of this fight will take on the winner of the fight between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander to crown an undisputed champion in the light welterweight division.

Khan versus Maidana will air on December 12 at 1.00 pm, via satellite, on SOLARtv and Solar Sports, with a replay on Solar Sports at 7.00 pm. The card will also feature another light welterweight fight between Victor Ortiz and Lamont Peterson.