Khan and Maidana continue to tango
The junior welterweight division has become a sponsored soap opera.
Following Marcos Maidana’s written complaint made out to the World Boxing Association (WBA) about WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, Khan has fired back, and he’s not pleased.
Maidana sent a letter yesterday to the association alleging Khan was evading him for an upcoming fight. Maidana is the WBA interim champion, and as such Khan’s mandatory challenger. Maidana requested that WBA President Gilberto Mendoza intervene and force Khan to fight.
"I am making this request based on Mr. Khan systematically refusing to fight me for the last 10 months,” Maidana said in the letter. “Even though he was well aware of his obligation of having to fight the interim champion. And now, he is apparently questioning this obligation, so I would like the WBA to remind him.”
In response Khan threw back a flurry of comments. The main contention, he stated, was that Maidana was ‘overpricing himself’ for the fight in asking for an unreasonable amount. Khan also said Maidana’s complaint isn’t valid as his mandatory bout isn’t due for several months.
"Hearing about this [expletive] that Maidana is saying!” Khan fumed. “I will fight him anywhere. The only reason I want [the] UK is because I want my home fans to see me knock him out and my last fight was in [the] U.S."
Khan talked brass tax: "Maidana will make his biggest purse in this fight. What he is asking for is three times more than he made against [Victor] Ortiz, [Victor] Cayo, and when he was destroyed by [Andriy] Kotelnik! I will give him a lot more than [what he made in] his last fight.” He continued: “But still he is complaining. Maidana isn't my mandatory fight so it can't even go to purse bids, but yet I am still giving him the fight now. December 11th, I have a date. Let's get it on. This is the real truth."
Khan also stated that if appropriate financial settlements can’t be reached with Maidana, he will look for other opponents with whom to defend his title. "Let's end this topic about crybaby Madonna....oops I mean Maidana. His name should be Madonna the way he's finding excuses not to fight,” Khan said.
Despite Khan’s bombastic claims, many believe he has legitimately been avoiding Maidana. Following a recent defense of his title, Maidana certainly deserves a shot against Khan, whose last bout was against contender Paulie Malignaggi. Many have accused Khan of avoiding Maidana due to his knockout power (he’s knocked out 27 of his 30 opponents).
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