HBO Boxing: Khan Faces Maidana December 11 In Las Vegas

With fans from the United States to England to Argentina clamoring for it for well over a year, super lightweight supremacy will finally be decided on Saturday, December 11.

That’s when British superstar Amir “King” Khan returns to the United States for his second consecutive bout to defend his WBA 140-pound Championship against ferocious Argentinean knockout artist and WBA Super Lightweight Interim Champion Marcos Maidana at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The highly anticipated bout will be televised live in the United States on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.

“Maidana has been doing a lot of talking and he’s talked his way into a fight now,” said Khan. “Unfortunately for him, his mouth isn’t going to help him in the ring and I’m going to prove to him that I’m on another level on December 11.”

Maidana responded by saying, “Khan’s been running from me for a long time, but the running stops on December 11. I’ll show him how a champion acts and fights when we get into the ring in Las Vegas.”

Oscar de la Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions said, “This is a fight the fans have asked for and we’re giving it to them as an early holiday present. I believe these are the two of the top 140-pound fighters in the world and with Khan’s speed and Maidana’s power, this fight is going to be explosive.”

“Marcos has proven he is a force to be reckoned with in the 140-pound division and we are confident that he will expose Amir’s flaws and come out with his hands raised in victory,” Dietmar Poszwa, of Universum Box Promotion, Maidana’s co-promoter. “December 11 is going to be an explosive night and you will not want to miss it.”

Khan vs. Maidana, a 12-round WBA Super Lightweight Championship bout, is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Khan Promotions and Universum Box Promotion. The HBO World Championship Boxing broadcast begins at 9:30pm ET / 6:30pm PT.

Tickets, priced at $350, $250, $150, $100 and $50, go on sale on Saturday, October 2 at 10:00am PT, and will be available for purchase at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

Amir “King” Khan (23-1, 17 KOs), only 23 years old, already has sailed to the heights of the amateur and professional boxing world, however he is far from finished on his quest to becoming the best of his era.

An accomplished amateur who earned a Silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics at just 17 years old, the Bolton, England native took the professional game by storm in 2005 and with the exception of a brief bump in the road in 2008 when he was upset by Breidis Prescott, Khan has since been unstoppable.

A World Champion since 2009, when he defeated Andreas Kotelnik in July of that year, Khan has since defended his crown twice, stopping Dmitriy Salita (TKO1) and Paul Malignaggi (TKO11) in impressive fashion. Now he’s ready for his greatest challenge in Maidana.

A hard-hitting battler from Santa Fe, Argentina, 27-year-old Marcos Rene “Chino” Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs) paid his dues on the local circuit in Argentina before getting his shot at the big time in 2009 when he faced Kotelnik for the WBA Super Lightweight title.

After 12 hard-fought rounds, Maidana lost a controversial split decision, but just four months later, he scored an impressive technical knockout win over highly-touted contender “Vicious” Victor Ortiz for the interim WBA World title.

Maidana has been even more impressive in his subsequent bouts as he has defended the interim crown against William Gonzalez (KO3), Victor Cayo (KO6) and DeMarcus Corley (W12).

All of that is well and good, but all along he has said that what he really wants is to capture the WBA title with a win over Khan, and he’ll get his chance on December 11.