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Khan wins duel with Maidana to retain title
Source: Agencies |
December 13, 2010, Monday
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BRITAIN'S Amir Khan withstood a furious challenge from Argentina's Marcos Maidana to retain his WBA light welterweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Maidana landed a right hand early in the first round that appeared to hurt the champion. But Khan (24-1, 17 KOs), responded in dominant fashion, dropping the challenger to the canvas with a fierce body shot at the end of the round.
The Argentine recovered, however, and began to stalk Khan and in the third round, he landed some strong right hands which he followed in the fourth with a series of uppercuts.
But Maidana hurt Khan again with right hands in the sixth, but in the eighth and ninth rounds the champion appeared to be in control, circling his opponent, unleashing fast combinations and then moving out of harm's way.
Maidana (29-2,27 KOs) landed a huge right hand that hurt Khan badly in the 10th round, and a series of punches had Khan in trouble but he stayed on his feet and survived the round.
The champion then regained his composure in the final two rounds to win a unanimous decision with two of the three judges scoring the fight 114-111 while the third scored it 113-112.
"He's a great fighter and he hits hard, but my chin was tested," Khan said. "I proved today I have a chin. You can tell by his record he's a hard puncher, and I took everything he gave me."
Maidana was disappointed with the result.
"I thought I won. I thought I did enough in the final rounds to win the fight," he said.
Khan rocketed to British stardom at 17 with a silver medal at the Athens Olympics, but he doesn't yet have the international drawing power of Ricky Hatton, Manchester's favorite son. Hatton got several thousand Brits to make the transcontinental trip to Las Vegas for his biggest fights, but Khan appears to be on the way: Hundreds of Khan's British and Pakistani fans showed up at Mandalay Bay, blowing vuvuzelas and waving both nations' flags.
The fight also was a breakthrough for Maidana, who was largely unknown outside Argentina until his stunning sixth-round stoppage of Victor Ortiz last year in Los Angeles.
Majority draw
Meanwhile, Ortiz and Lamont Peterson fought to a majority draw on Saturday, with Peterson coming back from two knockdowns to keep alive his 140-pound title aspirations.
Ortiz (28-2-2) knocked down Peterson against the ropes twice in the third round and pressured his opponent throughout, while Peterson (28-1-1) did his best work counterpunching against Ortiz's strength.
Ortiz jumped on the ropes in celebration after the 10-round bout, but two judges scored it a 94-94 draw, and a third had Peterson winning 95-93.
"I thought I pulled it off," Ortiz said. "He didn't even hit that hard."
Ortiz threw 457 punches, 126 more than Peterson, but connected with just 21 percent. Ortiz also threw 336 power shots to Peterson's 187, but Peterson connected with 44 percent of those blows to Ortiz's 28 percent.
Maidana landed a right hand early in the first round that appeared to hurt the champion. But Khan (24-1, 17 KOs), responded in dominant fashion, dropping the challenger to the canvas with a fierce body shot at the end of the round.
The Argentine recovered, however, and began to stalk Khan and in the third round, he landed some strong right hands which he followed in the fourth with a series of uppercuts.
But Maidana hurt Khan again with right hands in the sixth, but in the eighth and ninth rounds the champion appeared to be in control, circling his opponent, unleashing fast combinations and then moving out of harm's way.
Maidana (29-2,27 KOs) landed a huge right hand that hurt Khan badly in the 10th round, and a series of punches had Khan in trouble but he stayed on his feet and survived the round.
The champion then regained his composure in the final two rounds to win a unanimous decision with two of the three judges scoring the fight 114-111 while the third scored it 113-112.
"He's a great fighter and he hits hard, but my chin was tested," Khan said. "I proved today I have a chin. You can tell by his record he's a hard puncher, and I took everything he gave me."
Maidana was disappointed with the result.
"I thought I won. I thought I did enough in the final rounds to win the fight," he said.
Khan rocketed to British stardom at 17 with a silver medal at the Athens Olympics, but he doesn't yet have the international drawing power of Ricky Hatton, Manchester's favorite son. Hatton got several thousand Brits to make the transcontinental trip to Las Vegas for his biggest fights, but Khan appears to be on the way: Hundreds of Khan's British and Pakistani fans showed up at Mandalay Bay, blowing vuvuzelas and waving both nations' flags.
The fight also was a breakthrough for Maidana, who was largely unknown outside Argentina until his stunning sixth-round stoppage of Victor Ortiz last year in Los Angeles.
Majority draw
Meanwhile, Ortiz and Lamont Peterson fought to a majority draw on Saturday, with Peterson coming back from two knockdowns to keep alive his 140-pound title aspirations.
Ortiz (28-2-2) knocked down Peterson against the ropes twice in the third round and pressured his opponent throughout, while Peterson (28-1-1) did his best work counterpunching against Ortiz's strength.
Ortiz jumped on the ropes in celebration after the 10-round bout, but two judges scored it a 94-94 draw, and a third had Peterson winning 95-93.
"I thought I pulled it off," Ortiz said. "He didn't even hit that hard."
Ortiz threw 457 punches, 126 more than Peterson, but connected with just 21 percent. Ortiz also threw 336 power shots to Peterson's 187, but Peterson connected with 44 percent of those blows to Ortiz's 28 percent.
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