LAS VEGAS – LAS VEGAS – Amir Khan’s date with stardom is still there. But for one night it had to wait. Survival got in the way and perhaps forged a stronger possibility that Khan will indeed be the next big thing in boxing.
First, however, he had to prove he could endure.
Khan (24-1, 17 KOs) did so Saturday night in front of an announced Mandalay Bay crowd of 4,600 against volatile Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KOs), the son of an Argentine gaucho who was as wild and dangerous as an angry stallion.
Maidana suffered a first-round knockdown from a body punch, a Khan left that he never saw. He was penalized a point by referee Joe Cortez in the fifth for throwing an elbow. In every round, he threw punches that sometimes left Khan looking dazed and often left at the perilous edge of defeat.
Khan danced away, ducked, countered and desperately held on to victory. He won a decision that was unanimous in name only and narrow in fact.
Judges Jerry Roth and C.J. Ross scored it for Britain’s 140-pound champion, 114-111 each. On Glenn Trowbridge’s card, it was even closer — Khan by a mere point, 113-112.
Immediate emotion after the final bell was evident in some frustration expressed by Maidana’s corner, which to a man was convinced that they had been robbed of victory.
“I thought I did enough in the later rounds to win,’’ Maidana said.
An unidentified member of Maidana’s corner rushed into the ring and appeared to go after Cortez.
He couldn’t get to him, unlike Maidana, who repeatedly got to Khan.
For Kahn, however, part the victory as in a newfound ability to withstand the most powerful puncher in the division. His ability to take a punch has been an apparent weakness since he was stopped within a minute by by Breidis Prescott.
“I’ve got a chin,’’ Khan said. “I was hurt, but I came back stronger.’’
Strong enough perhaps to become the star that everybody believes he can be.
The assumption was that Victor Ortiz was fighting for a chance at a rematch with Marcos Maidana.
Think again.
First, Ortiz might have to settle for a rematch with Lamont Peterson.
Ortiz’ priorities and perhaps career were shuffled with a majority draw Saturday night with Peterson at Mandalay Bay in a junior-welterweight steppingstone before Maidana’s bid at an upset of Amir Khan.
Two judges scored, Dave Moretti and Patricia Morse Jarman, scored it 94-94. On judge Robert Hoyle’s card, it was 95-93 for Peterson.
Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs) was left with the tie, an ambivalent mark on his resume, after scoring two knockdowns in the third round. Slowly, Peterson (28-1-1, 14 KOs) came back with series of punches that lacked power, yet were on target.
“I fell like crap,’’ said Ortiz, whose career was stalled when he was knocked out in 2009 by Maidana. “I thought I pulled it off. He doesn’t hit that hard. But, you know, bleep happens.’’
But there was more than just bleep. There were precise Peterson punches from the seventh round through the 10th. He repeatedly sent sweat flying off Ortiz’ face and head with lefts, rights and just about anything else he threw. Peterson landed 111 punches to 95 by Ortiz, according to PunchStats.
It said Mr. Nice Guy on the green waistband of Jacob Thornton’s trunks.
No argument there.
Thornton (2-2), a super-lightweight from St. Louis, was nice enough to go to his knees in the opening seconds of a first-round loss to Jamie Kavanaugh (4-0, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles.
Forty-four seconds after opening bell for the third fight Saturday on the card featuring Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana at Mandalay Bay, Kavanaugh’s opening assault left Thornton kneeling. It looked as if he were begging for a stoppage.
Junior-welterweight Sharif Bogere (18-0, 11 KOs), an African living in Las Vegas, had the look of a lion. The face of one adorned the front and back of his black trunks. A woman in lion’s costume accompanied him into the ring in the fifth fight on the Khan-Maidana card. Chris Fernandez ( 19-11-1, 11 KOs) of Salt Lake City was prey. Boegere, blood streaming from cuts near both eyes, mauled him for eight rounds, winning a unanimous decision.
Referee Jay Nady granted Thornton’s apparent wish, stopping the fight as though it had been scheduled to last only within the span of two NBA shot clocks.
In the card’s second bout, super-bantamweight Randy Caballero (6-0, 4 KOs) of Coachella, Calif., got a predictable victory and some necessary work in a four-round unanimous decision over Robert Guillen (5-9-3, 1 KO), a tough Phoenix fighter who was knocked down in the opening round.
The show opened in front of few fans and fewer chances for Arizona middleweight Gustavo Medina (1-3-1), who had no defense and even less offense in a third-round loss by TKO to rangy Venezuelan Alfonso Blanco (2-0, 1 KO).
The fourth bout on the Khan-Maidana card was a cross-town battle, two junior-welterweights from Las Vegas. Unbeaten Jessie Vargas (13-0, 7 KOs) prevailed. With Floyd Mayweather Jr. advisor Leonard Ellerbe in his corner, Vargas scored an eight-round, unanimous decision over Ramon Montano (17-9-2, 2 KOs).
Junior-welterweight Sharif Bogere (18-0, 11 KOs), an African living in Las Vegas, had the look of a lion. The face of one adorned the front and back of his black trunks. A woman in lion’s costume accompanied him into the ring in the fifth fight on the Khan-Maidana card. Chris Fernandez ( 19-11-1, 11 KOs) of Salt Lake City was prey. Boegere, blood streaming from cuts near both eyes, mauled him for eight rounds, winning a unanimous decision.
Heavyweight Seth Mitchell (20-0-1, 14 KOs) won the card’s sixth bout. But he didn’t celebrate. At least, not immediately. The ex-Michigan State linebacker was disappointed that Taurus Sykes (25-7-1, 7 KOs) of Brooklyn quit. Not long after a Mitchell left dropped him early in the fifth, Sykes went down again from what appeared to be a grazing punch. Mitchell urged him to get up. Sykes wouldn’t. He stayed down, a KO loser, at 1:42 of the fifth. Mitchell waved his gloves at him in disgust. Then, he celebrated.
In the end, only a white towel was defense against New York welterweight Joan Guzman (31-0-1, 18 KOs). Jason Davis’ corner threw it in surrender at 29 seconds of the second after the intimidated Canadian (11-8-1, 3 KOs) was unable to cope with the powerful Guzman, who dropped him in the opening round with a low blow in the card’s seventh fight and the last one before junior welterweight Victor Ortiz and Lamont Peterson clashed in the co-main event.
