Amir Khan vs Marcos Maidana set for Dec 11th

In a year in which so many fights that boxing fans have wanted to see have not been made -- Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather, for example -- one of them is being delivered.

Junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan and interim titlist Marcos Maidana have reached agreement to meet on Dec. 11, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who promotes both of them, told ESPN.com Wednesday. The HBO-televised fight will take place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

"We came to an agreement [Tuesday] night. Khan is on board. Maidana is on board and I am finalizing everything with Mandalay Bay," Schaefer said outside of Staples Center during a news conference promoting Saturday night's Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora HBO PPV card.

It had been a hard negotiation with Khan preferring to fight in his native England and Maidana, of Argentina, wanting to fight on neutral ground in the United States. Schaefer said Maidana was willing to go England for a bigger payday, but Khan was unwilling to accommodate that.

So under the threat of a WBA-ordered purse bid on Sept. 21, which Maidana had asked for due to their impasse, the fight was finally agreed to.

"Amir wanted to have this fight in the U.K. and Maidana wanted the fight to be in the United States, but we worked on things and I was informed by Amir's lawyer that he would fight in the U.S.," Schaefer said. "There was some urgency for us to make a deal because of the purse bid coming up, but now we have a deal and I will inform the WBA that the fighters have reached agreement."

Had the fight gone to a purse bid, any promoter registered with the WBA could have won control of the fight, which Golden Boy did not want to happen, nor did Khan, who would have been entitled to 55 percent of the winning bid with 45 percent going to Maidana.

"We worked it out financially where everyone was happy," Schaefer said. "It was a difficult fight to put together but this was the fight I kept hearing from fans and media that they wanted to see. Golden Boy made some concessions and we got the fight done."

"I want this fight and the fans want to see this fight," said Khan, who had called Schaefer's cell phone from England and spoke to ESPN.com. "It's two explosive styles meeting up. It's the explosive puncher [Maidana] against the quick and explosive boxer. They say Maidana has a style to beat a boxer, so let's see how good he is. Maidana wants to stop me from having my legacy, but that is not going to happen. But let him try."

Khan, who will be making his third defense, will get at least $1.5 million, plus revenue from the television rights in the United Kingdom. Maidana will earn $550,000 plus an undisclosed bump if he wins the fight.

Khan (23-1, 17 KOs), 23, won an Olympic silver medal in 2004. In 2009, Khan claimed a 140-pound world title by easily out-boxing Andriy Kotelnik, who had handed Maidana his only loss, a decision, in the fight before losing the title to Khan.

Khan's first defense was a 76-second demolition of mandatory challenger Dmitriy Salita in December. In May, Khan made his American debut with a dominant 11th-round knockout of Paulie Malignaggi in New York, Malignaggi's hometown.

Khan said he has no problem coming back to the U.S. to fight Maidana.

"I'm coming to fight him where he wants to fight. But I want this fight, so I am going where he wants to fight," Khan said. "That's how much I want this fight."

Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs), 27, stopped Victor Ortiz in the sixth round in June 2009 to claim the interim belt. He's defended it three times, including a difficult decision win against former titlist DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley in Argentina on Aug. 28.

Schaefer said a second televised bout will be added to the card. He said it could involve Ortiz, if he wins his fight with Vivian Harris on Saturday's Mosley-Mora undercard. Another possibility, Schaefer said, could be a match involving fast-rising middleweight Gennady Golovkin, who is promoted by Universum, Golden Boy's partner on Maidana's contract.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=5577437

Maidana is a bitch, I can't wait for Khan to outclass him.

Can't ask for more than this!

Ali_1748 wrote:

Maidana is a bitch, I can't wait for Khan to outclass him.

Let's see how long Khan can run from Maidana...he'd better be in shape.

flapanther2001 wrote:

Ali_1748 wrote:

Maidana is a bitch, I can't wait for Khan to outclass him.

Let's see how long Khan can run from Maidana...he'd better be in shape.

Let's see how long Maidana's face holds up when he's being jabbed every second

He's a bitch for forcing it to take place in America, the fight would generate better business in Manchester. And he also lied about being willing to travel to England.

Sounds like Khan was the one being unreasonable. Khan wanted the fight in England but didn't want to share any of the additional revenue for having it in his backyard.

Maidana was satisfied with $550 000 ? Khan must have been offering some pathetic money before if Maidana has settled for only $550, 000. That amounts to about a 75-25 split in Khan's favour.

Khan likes to call himself a world champion by virtue of his trinket, but didn't want to recognise Maidana's trinket. No wonder Maidana asked for the purse bid.

I'm glad the fight is on and I expect Khan to dominate Maidana.

Of course you would side with Maidana Canvas

[quote="Ali_1748"]

flapanther2001 wrote:

Ali_1748 wrote:

Maidana is a bitch, I can't wait for Khan to outclass him.

Let's see how long Khan can run from Maidana...he'd better be in shape.

Let's see how long Maidana's face holds up when he's being jabbed every second

He's a bitch for forcing it to take place in America, the fight would generate better business in Manchester. And he also lied about being willing to travel to England.[/quote
Ali....I understand that you like Khan, but can you give me one legitimate reason why he deserves to have this fight 100% his way?
Khan has not done near enough to be demanding in this fight. Maidana took on & destroyed Ortiz when Khan wouldn't go near any fighter of that caliber. I give Maidana credit for standing up to the bullshit powers that be and not letting himself get screwed. I know we'll never agree about Khan, but if the shoe was on the other foot, we'd both see it differently. One last thing...since they are both being repped by GBP, watch & see what happens if Maidana wins. Oscar will get rid of Khan like yesterdays garbage. Not that he would deserve that, but that's where GBP is at now.

yeah I just can't be an objective and neutral observer towards the UK fighters like you are Ali....

1. Khan is the champion, isn't the champ allowed to fight in his backyard ?
2. Khan is the one being backed by HBO and Sky Sports.
3. Khan is the one with a fanbase.
4. Maidana brings nothing to the table.

1)Khan is a paper champion, and so is Maidana
2) So what?
3) Fanbase doesn't mean shit when it comes to trinket manditories, the splits are prescribed
4) Maidana brings an overdue obligation owed by Khan to the table

Khan has been calling himself a champion, but he holds the same trinket as Maidana.

Why the fuch should Maidana have to go to Khan's backyard and have all the disadvantages if Khan isn't going to share any of the money? Khan is in violation of WBA rules and OWES Maidana this fight. Maidana would have been willing to go to England if there was more money in it for him, but seeing as Khan wanted all the money, Maidana wanted the fight on neutral ground. I don't blame him a bit.

When A klitschko offers a contender like Sam Peter a title shot, Peter goes from making one hundred grand at small american shows, to one or two million, for fighting in Germany. K2 pays the challenger handsomely for coming to Germany.

Do you think that a manditory contender, or interim champion, who is owed the fight, would agree to go to Germany if they stood to make no more money than what is being offered to have the fight in a neutral venue?

Canvas wrote:

1)Khan is a paper champion, and so is Maidana
2) So what?
3) Fanbase doesn't mean shit when it comes to trinket manditories, the splits are prescribed
4) Maidana brings an overdue obligation owed by Khan to the table

Khan has been calling himself a champion, but he holds the same trinket as Maidana.

Why the fuch should Maidana have to go to Khan's backyard and have all the disadvantages if Khan isn't going to share any of the money? Khan is in violation of WBA rules and OWES Maidana this fight. Maidana would have been willing to go to England if there was more money in it for him, but seeing as Khan wanted all the money, Maidana wanted the fight on neutral ground. I don't blame him a bit.

The point is Maidana has no leverage to dictate the terms, he's a interim holder with no real fanbase, he brings nothing to the table.

Khan's got no reason to share the British tv revenue with Maidana when he's unknown by anyone except hardcore boxing fans.

Who the fuck cares about the WBA rules ?

I agree Ali, if that were Khan's position. The problem is that Khan likes to run his mouth calling himself the world champion by virtue of his bogus trinket. If you want to hold your trinket in the air and sing it's praises to the world, then you have to abide by the terms of that trinket's issuer.

We all know that Khan is no more a world champion than I am.

Canvas wrote:

I agree Ali, if that were Khan's position. The problem is that Khan likes to run his mouth calling himself the world champion by virtue of his bogus trinket. If you want to hold your trinket in the air and sing it's praises to the world, then you have to abide by the terms of that trinket's issuer.

We all know that Khan is no more a world champion than I am.

But the trinket holder should have the right to defend it in his backyard yes or no ?

not if he's not even willing to follow the manditory split prescribed by the sanctioning body. You forget Maidana has a claim to the trinket as well, he's not some optional challenger.

Khan has to make this fight or lose the trinket. It is manditory and the split is manditory if they can't agree.

If Khan would discard his belt and say "the world title is vacant, I don't care about this trinket, it means nothing to anyone" then I would say Khan can demand whatever terms he wants as he is the draw and has all the leverage.

Maidana has no claim to the trinket, the WBA created another bogus interim trinket to cash in on the Ortiz vs Maidana fight.

live by the trinkets, die by the trinkets.

He can't have it both ways. The interim title was awarded because the so-called regular title was already overdue, and they didn't want to strip one belt holder when they can just make more sanctioning fees by awarding an interim belt.

It is a complete joke. The WBA is a farce and has no credibility

Maidana wears Khan down, keeps the pressure on, and stops Khan late. Khan's unwarranted hype ends here...

unwarranted hype? did you watch his last 3 fights? He is a phenominal talent. He's a mouthy punk, but he has elite skills.

I've just realized this will be happening on the same night as Showtime's bantamweight tournament.

Great news if you have dvr and both networks.

Let's get it on. Khan boxes circles around Maidana and pitches a virtual shutout.

Either way it'll be fun to watch, plus, now that they're fighting in Vegas, I get to see it live.

flapanther2001 wrote:

Either way it'll be fun to watch, plus, now that they're fighting in Vegas, I get to see it live.

You're in vegas now???