Marcos René Maidana
Marcos René Maidana (born July 17, 1983) is an Argentine professional
boxer and a two-weight former world champion, having held the WBA (Regular)
super lightweight and WBA (Super) welterweight titles. A versatile brawler in
the ring, Maidana is well known for his punching power.
Light Welterweight
On February 2, 2009, the then-WBA Light Welterweight titleholder Andreas
Kotelnik beat the then-undefeated Maidana (25-0, 24 knockouts) via
controversial split decision, with the judges scoring the fight 115–114,
113–115, 115–113 in Kotelnik's favour.
Maidana's first fight in the United States was against Mexican-American
Victor Ortíz, that took place on June 27, 2009.Maidana was knocked down three
times within the first two rounds, but rallied and came back to beat Ortiz for
the interim WBA super lightweight title with a sixth-round TKO victory.
After his fight with Ortiz, it was rumoured that Maidana would face British
boxer, and WBA super lightweight champion, Amir Khan, who won the title after
defeating Andreas Kotelnik.However, Khan opted for Paulie Malignaggi as his
next opponent. As a result, Maidana was scheduled to fight on March 27, 2010
against Victor Cayo, whose record, at that time, was 24-0 with 75% of victories
coming by way of knockout.Maidana knocked out the undefeated Cayo in the sixth
round to retain his interim WBA super lightweight title and On September 15,
ESPN revealed that both fighters had agreed to fight on December 11 at Mandalay
Bay, Las Vegas.
Khan dominated the fight early and knocked down Maidana in the 1st round
with a left hook to the liver, but had to withstand a furious barrage by
Maidana in round 10, and continually backed up during rounds 11 and 12. Maidana
was unable to finish Khan however, who went on to win the fight by unanimous
decision.The fight was awarded the Boxing Writers Association of America Award
for Fight of the Year.
Erik Morales vs. Marcos Maidana
Main article: Erik Morales
vs. Marcos Maidana
In the first round against Erik Morales, Maidana came out with ferocity as
expected and proceeded to batter his older opponent around the ring. He landed
multiple power punches, including an uppercut that opened a huge swelling over
Morales' left eye which worsened over the course of the fight, and when the
Mexican walked back to his corner having taken a large amount of punishment in
the opening three minutes most observers felt their predictions were being
fulfilled. The one-sided nature of the bout continued for the next couple of
rounds, but then at the end of the third round Morales begin to fight back and
landed a hard combination to the head of Maidana and the tide began to turn.
From the fourth round onwards and although he was effectively fighting with
one eye, Morales gave as good as he got and was landing the cleaner more
effective shots, albeit occasionally being swarmed by the sheer number of
punches being landed in return by the relentless Maidana. The fight became a
see-saw affair and then, in the eighth round, Morales hit Maidana with a huge
left hook that almost stopped the Argentinian. The next couple of rounds
continued in this fashion, with Maidana using his strength and stamina to bully
Morales and the Mexican using his sharper punching and ring intelligence to
land effective counters and combinations. The fight was fast turning into a
modern classic.
In the "championship rounds" (the eleventh and twelfth), Morales
seemed to tire and Maidana took advantage, overwhelming him with his strength
and punishing the ageing warrior continually to the head and body. Maidana
finished the fight much the stronger of the two and his late surge gave him the
win on the scorecards, 116–112 twice with the third judge scoring the fight a
draw, 114–114.
Maidana was scheduled to defend his title Aug. 27 against Robert Guerrero,
but Guerrero suffered a shoulder injury less than two weeks before the fight.
Maidana's fought Petr Petrov of Russia on Sept. 23 instead, winning by fourth
round knockout.
