Khan absorbs Maidana’s best, keeps WBA title by decision

It shouldn’t take him that long to return.

The reigning WBA junior welterweight champion made a successful Vegas debut, winning a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision over Marcos Maidana to retain his title Saturday night at Mandalay Bay.

Judges Jerry Roth and C.J. Ross had Khan (24-1) winning 114-111, and Glenn Trowbridge had him ahead 113-112.

“He’s a strong fighter, and he hits hard,” Khan said. “My chin was tested, and to all the critics, I proved I have a chin.”

Said Maidana (29-2): “He was able to take my punches. I came one punch short of getting him out of there.”

Khan, going off as a nearly 4-1 favorite, appeared as if he would have an easy night on the last big fight card of the year in Las Vegas. Late in the first round, he landed a right-left combination to the body that sent Maidana to the canvas. Maidana was hurt but survived, to the chagrin of the pro-Khan crowd of 4,632.

In the fifth round, Maidana was penalized a point by referee Joe Cortez for throwing an elbow at Khan. By the 10th round, Khan appeared to have an insurmountable lead. Whenever he chose to box rather than lay against the ropes and slug, he dominated Maidana.

But Khan’s strategy caught up to him in the 10th. Maidana hurt him with a right uppercut that snapped Khan’s head back 45 seconds into the round. The Argentine challenger pressed on and rocked Khan repeatedly.

Somehow, Khan managed to stay upright, but the momentum had clearly shifted to Maidana, who won the round 10-8 on all three cards to regain the point he lost in the fifth round.

Maidana did all he could to finish off Khan in the final two rounds, but it wasn’t enough despite two judges giving both rounds to Maidana.

Khan dominated the final PunchStats, including punches connected (45 percent to 20), jabs connected (34 percent to 13) and power punches landed (53 percent to 25).

But a disconsolate Maidana didn’t feel the stats reflected the outcome.

“I thought I won,” he said. “I had him hurt, and I thought I did enough to win the fight.

“But I don’t feel like a loser, and I’d like a rematch.”

Khan had his nose bloodied, and his face showed several welts. But in the end, he still had his belt and probably learned a valuable lesson about trusting trainer Freddie Roach, who didn’t want his fighter laying on the ropes as a stationary target.

“I’m a boxer,” Khan said. “I know I’m going to get hit. I’m sure everyone watching knows I made some mistakes. But I worked hard and came back stronger than ever.”

Roach said: “If he had boxed a smarter fight, he would have won going away. Maidana pressured him, and he stood there too often. It almost cost him the fight.

“We had worked on slipping under and away. I wanted him to use the jab more and go to the body more. But I guess there are certain things in his DNA that don’t allow him to do that sometimes.”

In the main undercard fight, Victor Ortiz and Lamont Peterson fought to a majority draw in a 10-round junior welterweight bout.

Ortiz (28-2-2) survived an accidental head butt in the first round that opened a gash on the hairline above his left eye. But he knocked down Peterson twice in the third round and had him in trouble early in the fourth, bloodying his nose.

But Peterson (28-1-1) rallied, and judge Robert Hoyle had him winning 95-93. Judges Dave Moretti and Patricia Morse-Jarman both scored it 94-94.

Contact sports reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or at 702-387-2913.