Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana was a boxing match held on December 11, 2010. The bout was for Khan's WBA Light Welterweight Title, which Khan successfully defended, winning via unanimous decision. The bout was awarded

Fight of the Year Fight of the Year is an award given to the boxing match considered to be the best fight that year. It is awarded by a variety of different institutions. It may refer to: * ''The Ring'' magazine Fight of the Year – awarded by ''The Ring'' magazi ...

by the

Boxing Writers Association of America The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) was originally formed in 1926 as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York. The association's purpose is to promote better working conditions for boxing writers, as well as hold its writers ...

.Amir scoops American honour

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Build-up

On 9 March 2010,

Golden Boy Promotions Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion (in six divisions) Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy." Histo ...

confirmed that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and former light welterweight world champion

Paulie Malignaggi Paul "Paulie" Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst. He held world championships in two weight classes, including ...

will hold a press conference in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to announce their world title bout set for 15 May at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. This was Khan's first bout in the

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. The fight was for the WBA light welterweight title, which Khan won in the 11th round. Immediately after the fight, Khan stated he wanted to fight

Marcos Maidana Marcos René Maidana (born 17 July 1983) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2011 to 2012, and the ...

next and unify the light-welterweight division, suggesting that the way to do this would be for him to fight Maidana, and then go on to face the winner of a Devon Alexander vs. Timothy Bradley match. Maidana, after failing to challenge undefeated WBO Junior Welterweight champion

Timothy Bradley Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. (born August 29, 1983) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light welterweight title twice between 2008 an ...

, postponed the fight to June 19 due to a back injury suffered by Maidana. On May 3, Maidana pulled out of the fight yet again, still citing his back as the problem. The fight had already been rescheduled from June 19 to July 17, and Bradley went on to fight

Luis Carlos Abregu Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

on July 17, instead of Maidana. After failing to secure the fight with Bradley, Maidana's camp announced that he would fight former-

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

junior welterweight champ DeMarcus Corley, on August 28, 2010 at the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Maidana went on to go and win by unanimous decision. Khan was looking for a good opponent to next challenge him for his title. One of his possible opponents was

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

Champion

Juan Manuel Marquez ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

. Marquez decided not to move up in weight and stayed at lightweight. Maidana then stated his intention to fight Khan: "Stop looking for possible opponents for next Khan December 11 in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Stop looking for lightweight boxers and face the real 140-pounders. I'll go to Khan's home soil to take the other portion of the WBA title that belongs to me."

The fight

The HBO-televised fight took place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Khan successfully defended his title for the third time against WBA Interim Champion and

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...

on 11 December 2010 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Khan dominated the fight early and knocked down Maidana in the 1st round with multiple body shots. However, Maidana recovered and battered Khan with a furious barrage in the tenth, sending him wobbling toward the ropes. Khan was able to improve in Round 11 and Maidana had another good round in the 12th, as Maidana was able to secure the last 3 rounds of the fight, making it very competitive on the judges' scorecards. However, Khan was able to stay on his feet as the vicious punches by Maidana were not enough to secure a knockout. Khan won the fight by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

on the strength of his performance in the earlier rounds as well as a point deduction against Maidana for throwing an elbow in the fifth.

Fight purses

Guaranteed fight purses: *Amir Khan ($1,500,000) vs. Marcos Maidana ($550,000) *Victor Ortiz ($150,000) vs. Lamont Peterson ($100,000)

Fight card

Televised

* Light Welterweight Championship bout: Amir Khan(c) vs.

**Khan defeats Maidana via unanimous decision. *Light Welterweight bout:

Victor Ortiz Victor Ortiz (born January 31, 1987) is an American professional boxer and film actor. He held the WBC welterweight title in 2011, and was formerly rated as one of the world's top three active welterweights by most sporting news and boxing web ...

vs.

Lamont Peterson Lamont Peterson (born January 24, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2019. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF light welterweight title between 2011 and 2015, and the WBA (R ...

**Fight ended in a draw.

Untelevised

*Welterweight bout: Joan Guzman vs. Jason Davis **Guzman defeats Davis via TKO at 0:29 of round 2. *Heavyweightbout:

Seth Mitchell Seth Mitchell (born May 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2013. He also played college football for Michigan State University. Early life Mitchell earned the nickname, “Little Superstar,” while gr ...

vs.

Taurus Sykes Taurus Jabbar Sykes, (born May 20, 1975) is a professional boxer. He has been fighting as a heavyweight, and has fought against several contenders, and currently holds a record of 25-6-1. He turned pro in 1998. Overview Sykes, who hails from B ...

**Mitchell defeats Sykes via KO of round 5. *Lightweight bout: Sharif Bogere vs. Christopher Fernandez **Bogere defeats Fernandez via unanimous decision. *Light Welterweight bout:

Jesse Vargas Jessie Vargas (born May 10, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBA (Regular) and IBO super lightweight titles in 2014, and the WBO welterweight title in 2016. As of Aug ...

vs.

Ramón Montaño Ramón Carlos Montaño Córdova (born November 8, 1982) is a Mexican professional boxer. Professional career After dropping Dmitriy Salita in the first round, their bout would end in a very disputed draw. He would then lose a very close decision ...

**Vargas defeats Montaño via unanimous decision. *Featherweight bout:

Randy Caballero Randy Michaels Caballero (born September 27, 1990) is a Nicaraguan American professional boxer in the Bantamweight division. Caballero is a former IBF Bantamweight world champion. He lost his title on the scales after being 5 pounds overweight be ...

vs. Robert Guillen **Caballero defeats Guillen via unanimous decision. *Middleweight bout: Alfonso Blanco vs. Gustavo Medina **Blanco defeats Medina via TKO at 2:45 of round 3. *Light Welterweight bout: Jamie Kavanagh vs. Jacob Thornton **Kavanagh defeats Thornton via TKO at 0:44 of round 1.

Viewership and revenue

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

, the fight drew an audience of 1.17million viewers in the

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. On

Sky Box Office Sky Box Office is Sky's pay-per-view (PPV) system operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland. There were three branded divisions of Sky Box Office – Sky Cinema Box Office, Sky Sports Box Office and Sky 3D Box Office. Until 1 February 2011, the ...

, the fight sold

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

buys in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The fight had a combined HBO and Sky Box Office audience of million viewers. The fight grossed $500,000 at the live gate. On Sky Box Office, at a price of £14.95 ($), pay-per-view revenue was £ ($). The fight had a combined US live-gate and UK pay-per-view revenue of $.

Reception

The bout was awarded

by the

. It was called one of the 'fights of the decade' by

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...

. In 2018,

Joe Cortez Joe Cortez (born October 13, 1945) is an American former boxing referee who has officiated in many important world title bouts. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. Biography Cortez is of Puerto Rican descent. H ...

, the fight's referee and veteran

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

member, called the bout "one of the most outstanding, skillful and exciting" championship fights that he refereed throughout his career in the sport.

International broadcasting

References

External links

Khan vs. Maidana Official Fight Card
from

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Maidana Boxing matches 2010 in boxing Boxing in Las Vegas 2010 in sports in Nevada History of boxing Golden Boy Promotions Amir Khan (boxer) December 2010 sports events in the United States