Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana

Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana, two of the top junior welterweights in the world, finally meet in a potentially explosive bout on December 11 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan, who won a Silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, will be looking to silence critics who have accused him of ducking not only Maidana but punchers in general in the wake of his humiliating

first-round KO defeat at the hands of commonplace Breidis Prescott two years ago. Indeed, that Khan has been hesitant to meet Maidana is less rumor than an “almostfact—“about as close to the truth you can get in boxing.



The strange case of Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, and Golden Boy Promotions--where GBP contractually obligated Maidana to avoid Khan for three fights or a calendar year, whichever came first--was compared to the way Top Rank is building a potential bout between Juan Maunuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa by expert after expert.

But Gamboa is not the number one contender to Juan Manuel Lopez, or vice versa, and is not obligated, at least theoretically, to face Lopez or be stripped of his title. Maidana, as WBX Interim Whatchamacallit, is a mandatory to Khan, whose handlers appeared wary of matching him up with the crude but destructive Argentine.

Maidana was frustrated enough by the situation to force a purse bid, where other promoters might have had the opportunity to stage the fight. Golden Boy Promotions had to work hard from having Maidana throw a monkeywrench into the Amir Khan Express. In the end, as much as Richard Schaefer would like to pat himself on the back and Khan would like to posture via Twitter, it was Maidana who pushed for the fight.

Purse bids are risky propositions and for a fighter to insist on one is unusual. Eric Morel tried it for a bout with Fernando Montiel and came out of it—money-wise–looking like a man who fell under a threshing machine. He withdrew from the Montiel fight with an injury of dubious origins.

 Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana video

A purse bid might have also been a disaster for Golden Boy since Khan is reportedly guaranteed a minimum of $1.25 million per fight, allowing another promoter insight into just how much he would have to offer to win the rights to a promotion that common sense says belongs in England. 

 Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana video-2

To a wily promoter, say Frank Warren, for example, it would have been the equivalent of a poker player knowing one of the hole cards of his opponent. In addition, Maidana would have been entitled to 45 percent of the purse bid under WBX rules, which would have been a few pence shy of what Khan expects from Golden Boy.