Many fighters are criticized for not taking fights that the public demands. Boxing forums are full of fans complaining about certain fighters being protected during their careers or lamenting at the lack of big fights being made in the sport. That criticism has often been levelled at Amir Khan. Despite praise for his performance against Paulie Malignaggi in his April U.S. debut, he also came under fire for avoiding big punchers. Khan answered those critics by seeking a fight with knockout artist Marcos Maidana and finally, the fight has been made for December 11th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Remarkably, a lot of the people who were questioning Khan's courage are now suddenly the same people picking him to win the bout easily, believing that he will outbox his less gifted but harder hitting Argentine opponent. Nevertheless, Khan still receives abuse for being too cocky after he stated he would eventually like to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. But isn't that what we as boxing fans want? We want the best match-ups possible, which a Khan - Mayweather bout could be considered to be within a couple of years.
Whatever the outcome of the Khan-Maidana showdown, surely it is now time to put to bed the theory of Khan being a protected fighter. We should also perhaps be less critical when a young talented fighter shows ambition, even if it appears that said fighter is being over confident.