LAS VEGAS — There is no advantage in hype, at least not at opening bell. Amir Khan has all of it. Marcos Maidana has none of it.
Maidana, an Argentine farm boy who can punch like a mule, is the son of a gaucho and about as anonymous as one in the hours before he faces Khan, whose good looks and versatile collection of agile skill have some anointing him as Manny Pacquiao’s heir apparent.
If this was a horse race, Maidana’s advertised chances Saturday night at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay would be about as good as a Clydesdale pulling a keg-filled wagon in six furlongs against Secretariat. It’s not. It is 12 rounds, thirty-six scheduled minutes and every second a chance for Maidana to unload a kick that damaged one prospect’s career with doubts that have yet to be eliminated.
Victor Ortiz still bristles at suggestions that he surrendered in June, 2009 to Maidana, who was more anonymous then than he is now. A few days ago during a conference call, Ortiz would not answer questions about whether he wants a rematch with Maidana. No answer needs no translation. Of course, he does. A complete rehab of his prospects can’t be complete without one.
For Khan, the good news is that Ortiz is there, on the Golden Boy-promoted and HBO-televised card against Lamont Peterson. Khan won’t have to look far to know what can happen if he lets the hype blind him to the imminent danger posed by Maidana.
Khan, a British silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, is the latest Pied Piper for the UK media, which is about to stage its biggest invasion of Vegas since Ricky Hatton.
“A mini-England,’’ Khan said of beer, Union Jacks and more rounds of beer that he expects will transform Mandalay Bay into another colony for one night.
By the way, Hatton was a good example of what hype can do. Likable and entertaining, Hatton also was overrated, a fact proven first by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and then Pacquiao in crushing stoppages. The guess here is that Khan, the British-born son of Pakistani immigrants, has more physical skills than Hatton and is smarter than Naseem Hamed. In boxing terms, Khan has the skill and instinct to be the UK’s best since heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis.
But Maidana stands in the way. For fans and often media with a short memory, the Argentine’s chances at an upset have been ignored, mostly because of a lousy performance against DeMarcus Corley, who hurt him with an uppercut.
But that performance was a lesson, says Maidaina trainer Miguel Diaz, a fellow Argentine with as much horse sense as anybody in any corner. The Argentina connection is coincidence perhaps, yet impossible to ignore. Khan’s quickness, precise jab and budding relationship with Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach are considered insurmountable.
Khan can just do more things. If that sounds familiar, think back to Atlantic City a few weeks ago. Paul Williams was feared, had speed, energy and all of the hype against Sergio Martinez, another Argentine. But with one big punch, Martinez made himself a contender for Fighter of the Year with a stunning second-round stoppage. Sometimes, upsets come in bunches.
If there is a weakness in Khan, it is his vulnerability to the big punch, which Maidana possesses two-fold, right and left. Breidis Prescott exposed that vulnerability in 2008 with a KO within a minute of opening bell. Sparring with Pacquiao and listening to Roach are the double-edged lesson in the plan to resurrect Khan and transform him into the fighter who was the talk of the 2004 Games in Athens.
Until opening bell Saturday night, however, the only sure thing is that the hype is back. The guess in this corner is that Maidana is too. That might not be enough against a fully-restored Khan. But for everybody talking about Khan as the next Pacquaio, or against Pacquiao or against Mayweather, beware.
Beware of Maidana.