What next for Maidana?

Recently a heavy handed, crowd pleasing Argentine has announced himself at world level, but before Mathysse, there was Maidana. The man with a face like Satan's baby and a style to match.

Maidana's exit from light welterweight didn't start explosively for him, with the one fight in his career where he was handled with ease. It was a surprisingly dominant performance from Devon Alexander, who had previously had mixed succes against pressure fighters. Urango showed he could be the antithesis to them, while Bradley and Lucas made him look poor and average respectively.

Maidana's most recent attempts at 147 have showed much improved technique defensively, and a sharper jab than before, but he looks less physically imposing and easier to hurt. When backed up to the ropes by Soto Karas he dipped and rolled excellently at times to avoid direct hits and evemtually toppled the big, tough but limited welterweight. Despite stopping him, Maidana's power didn't look as constantly dangerous as it had at light welter, and Karras looked like he was walking Marcos down at times.

This last weekend he produced another mini war vs Josesito Lopez. Once again he utilised the jab more and once again he stopped his foe pretty spitefully but that doesn't tell the whole story. His jab often returned quite a bit lower than his chin and he was caught by Jose's right hand. When under attack he made himself small, dipped and rolled and often managed to avoid direct hits, but not always. When Lopez threw in combos something usually got through, most notably a left to the body which noticably hurt Maidana and lead to him falling to the canvas even if it was ruled a slip. Maidana got the result, but he suffered for it.

Jesus and Josesito were both excellent choices of opponent. Jesus, slow and hittable. Josesito, not a big welter and can be dragged into a brawl. They gave Maidana the chance to practice his new skills while getting decent wins against guys who came to fight. Now it's time for a real test. I think Guerrero would be the perfect choice. The fight was mooted some time ago, but one of them pulled out.

Guerrero has fought as a light footed backfoot boxer in the past, but has been quite face first recently. A dangerous way to fight someone with Maidana's strengths. A win over The Ghost could make him a credible opponent for the Mayweather lottery win.

So what do you think Maidana should do next? How far can he go? Has he already reached his limit?

I hear he's getting a shot for a title against the Broner-Malignaggi winner (so Broner).

Broner v Maidana. Interesting. If Broner's power carries he should be able to take advantage of Marcos' vulnerabilities. If not it could be a tough night, with Maidana swarming his hittable body.

Broner v Maidana would do for me. Maidana is not elite, but his style should guarentee him some nice pay days until retirement. Exciting fighter, a test for most

Pretty much compeltely agree with what you said. Would have been interesting to see this version of Maidana who is a lot less crude when he was at LWW as he was a much bigger threat physically

He's just naturally a WW and hasn't been able to add real muscle. He has always looked soft around the middle but he looks more-so at WW. Even at LWW he was never the hardest to hurt and likewise the same is said about him as a welter. Lopez hurt him bad, Karass was pressuring him and looked to be breaking him down and Maidana (at LWW) was normally the one who was doing the breaking down and finishing strong. He still hits hard, not quite as hard as he did at welter, and the lack of size and natural strength has meant he has had to develop his boxing so to survive

I like him though, adding a crisp jab and upperbody movement has made him harder to outbox but he isn't elite. Karass is the ony true welter he's fought but he is far from world class so he is still a little unproven

If he keeps delivering good fights then why not get on board, him agaisnt Matthysse is one that's going to get big. On a side note as he now trains under Garcia he and Rios spar a lot and according to reports its FOTY material, its a shame they won't fight so we can see them

Welter is stacked with fighters around his level and a loss won't really hurt anyone atm so why not go for a Broner, Brook, Berto etc or big rematches like Khan and Ortiz

Mad respect for Marcus but he gets cooked by an elite level fighter with power. Potentially that's Broner, but the jury is still out on him...

'Baby, will you...'

Don't do it emore, the guy betrayed you.

'AB! About billions! I gotta Poopie!'

Oh, emore

Lots of options for him. I think a rematch with Ortiz or Khan would be good and not difficult at all to sell. I have my doubts he can build enough momentum in the ring or is a big enough draw in his own right out of it to get a Mayweather fight but you never know if he scores a big excitement laden win. Losing a shutout to Alexander is still too fresh in the memorary for me at least to want to see him anywhere near Floyd though.

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Pretty much compeltely agree with what you said. Would have been interesting to see this version of Maidana who is a lot less crude when he was at LWW as he was a much bigger threat physically

He's just naturally a WW and hasn't been able to add real muscle. He has always looked soft around the middle but he looks more-so at WW. Even at LWW he was never the hardest to hurt and likewise the same is said about him as a welter. Lopez hurt him bad, Karass was pressuring him and looked to be breaking him down and Maidana (at LWW) was normally the one who was doing the breaking down and finishing strong. He still hits hard, not quite as hard as he did at welter, and the lack of size and natural strength has meant he has had to develop his boxing so to survive

I like him though, adding a crisp jab and upperbody movement has made him harder to outbox but he isn't elite. Karass is the ony true welter he's fought but he is far from world class so he is still a little unproven

If he keeps delivering good fights then why not get on board, him agaisnt Matthysse is one that's going to get big. On a side note as he now trains under Garcia he and Rios spar a lot and according to reports its FOTY material, its a shame they won't fight so we can see them

Welter is stacked with fighters around his level and a loss won't really hurt anyone atm so why not go for a Broner, Brook, Berto etc or big rematches like Khan and Ortiz

Why on Earth would El Chino fight Brook?

Brook's claim to fame is beating(barely) a journeyman Carson Jones

Maidana has been in with guys like Ortiz, Alexander, Khan and Morales.

Facing Brook would be pointless.

As for Ortiz, he's not likely to return anytime soon

And when he does return, he won't be facing any bangers due to the badly busted jaw.

Now it would be pointless. If Brook actually fights someone good and fulfills the hype he'd be a good target for Marcos. He doesn't like pressure and isn't a massive puncher. The Jones fight is enough for me to think Brook never beats Maidana.

Missed the point, I meant that Maidana has a lot of fights he can choose from over the next couple of years as there are plenty of people that are about his level or will be over the next few years

A couple wins for brook and Maidana losing to Broner then that fights become a a real possibility

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Missed the point, I meant that Maidana has a lot of fights he can choose from over the next couple of years as there are plenty of people that are about his level or will be over the next few years

A couple wins for brook and Maidana losing to Broner then that fights become a a real possibility

Maybe but when Paulie beats Broner

Maidana might beat Paulie

If Paulie beats Broner.............I'll believe the Moon is made of cheese.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:If Paulie beats Broner.............I'll believe the Moon is made of cheese.

Considering Broner got his **** kicked by Daniel Ponce De Leon(Ponce got robbed), Paulie's more than a chance.

He's slower...can't punch and Amir Khan whupped his butt...........

More than a chance...Yeah right.....

You pick mormeck to beat Wlad??

Paulie almost got had by a fat LWW in Cano who has recently beaten comfortably by a shot Mosley and had already been stopped by a natural Superfeather in morales

Stop reading fans comments actually watch the fight before you start saying what happened because you did you'd know he didn't get his **** kicked

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Paulie almost got had by a fat LWW in Cano who has recently beaten comfortably by a shot Mosley and had already been stopped by a natural Superfeather in morales

Stop reading fans comments actually watch the fight before you start saying what happened because you did you'd know he didn't get his **** kicked

I watched the DPDL fight and Ponce was robbed. Simple as.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:He's slower...can't punch and Amir Khan whupped his butt...........

More than a chance...Yeah right.....

You pick mormeck to beat Wlad??

Not in a million Sundays...

Gerry SA wrote:

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Paulie almost got had by a fat LWW in Cano who has recently beaten comfortably by a shot Mosley and had already been stopped by a natural Superfeather in morales

Stop reading fans comments actually watch the fight before you start saying what happened because you did you'd know he didn't get his **** kicked

I watched the DPDL fight and Ponce was robbed. Simple as.

Never said he was unlucky not to lose, but he didnt get beaten easily. What was your scorecard? If its not wider than 96-94 then its hardly getting his **** handed to him

Broner got outworked but was never hurt and was landing with quality and power and was still only 20/21

Funny how when you don't like someone a contentious decision becomes a rip off...

I always say Duran ripped barkley off..

You say a lot of guff...

Where is ghosty???

Banned. Get over it. He messed with me and got banned. Wanna go the same way?

He had something to offer...unlike some..

Keep talking babes, we go back, but not that far, not far enough to stop you getting skinned.

Maidana should be a lesson to younger fighters who get by on size and power instead of focusing on some of the more technical aspects of boxing.

He's gone up in weight and realised he couldn't bully Welters like he did Light Welters and got a comprehensive one sided loss for his troubles. A few fights on where he is actually trying to slip and roll punches properly for the 1st time in his career and he looks decent doing it at times, I bet he regrets not trying it more for the previous 8 or 9 years he could have been a whole lot better as a fighter. It's nice to see an old dog learn new tricks but it's too little too late for him to make a real dent in the top Welterweights but he'll have a punchers chance against most.

Rios is similar but is too stupid to even try anything other than bully opponents and is going to get absolutely smashed by Manny for his troubles and I'm looking forward to that very much.

Current Maidana skills when he was at 140 and we might be looking at a guy with one loss. Not because he's become an amazing boxer, but because those losses were close and adjustments like that couldve given him the edge.