HURT for the first time since his stunning 54-second loss against Breidis Prescott in 2008, Amir Khan sent the travelling fans home happy with an enthralling victory over Marcos Maidana on Saturday night.

In Las Vegas, many were saying they had just witnessed the fight of 2010.

Bolton boxer Khan had barely lost a round in five fights since that shock knock-out at Prescott’s hands two years ago, let alone looked troubled.

But if his US debut was a comfortable one-sided affair, against Paulie Malignaggi at New York’s Madison Square Garden in May, his Vegas bow was anything but easy at Mandalay Bay.

Yet that made it all the more impressive.

The fight was billed as ‘Thunder versus Lightning’ and Khan’s lightning hands ultimately earned him a deserved unanimous points victory over Maidana’s thunderous and renowned punching power.

Maidana had lost only once in 30 fights and had never been stopped, but Khan dominated the opening round of the light welterweight bout and then left the Argentinian doubled over on the canvas after a wicked left hook to the body.

For a few seconds it looked like the fight would be over in the first round, but Maidana got to his feet and then briefly put Khan in trouble with a big right hand in the third round.

It was turning into a war rather than the tactical domination trainer Freddie Roach had hoped for, but Khan’s hand speed and greater accuracy allowed him to get the better of most of the exchanges as he built up a healthy points lead – with an ever more frustrated Maidana deducted a point for an elbow in the fifth.

Khan was three rounds from a comfortable victory when he was rocked by Maidana early in the 10th round and, clearly hurt, had to summon up all of his fighting spirit to somehow survive as the Argentinian rained down punches for more than two minutes.

Roach considered throwing in the towel as a brave Khan refused to take a knee to give himself the respite he so badly needed, but referee Joe Cortez was not ready to step in.

As the bell approached, though, Khan smiled at Maidana. He had survived the round and it was the decisive moment of the fight, maybe even of his career. A defeat would have been highly damaging to his future prospects, particularly his hopes of fighting Floyd Mayweather in the future.

Khan regained his composure to see out the 11th and 12th rounds, with all three judges awarding him a narrow points victory – 114-111 on two cards and 113-112 on the third – to much celebration from his fans amid a crowd of around 5,000.

There was a time when Roach had been reluctant to let Khan face Maidana, his mandatory challenger for the WBA world title for the past 17 months, and he will face few more gruelling fights.

But Khan’s weakness was supposed to be against the big punchers, and he may just have beaten the biggest puncher in the light welterweight division.