Alexander's Win Tonight More About Maidana's Limited Abilities

[jbp23]

This was no surprise. Maidana was picked to make Alexander look good. The deck was stacked against Maidana anyway. 1st, the fight was in St. Louis, where Alexander has been given gift after gift, so no-way Maidana was going to win tonight except by ko. 2nd, it was changed from a 12rd fight to a 10rd fight, because Alexander's questionable cardio. But 3rd, the most important of all Maidana is just not that good, he has never been that good. He was selected because he has no real offense, game plan, etc. other than to go in the ring hoping for a ko. Maidana does not set up his punches, he does not have a jab, not much of a defense, he does not throw combinations. He basically, just walksin follows his opponent around hoping to land something big. That's Maidana's whole mentality, go in no game plan and hope to land a big punch. His corner also has the same mentality. They give no real instruction, they believe that Maidana's power is all that is needed to win. I know some people will say Khan was a good boxer and Maidana did well against him. Khan is a boxer and he moves, but his movement is predictable, he circles, and circles and sometimes goes side to side. Alexander's movement is much more diverse, so that is why Maidana could not deal with it

So I do not believe this fight showed Alexander to be better than before. He fought the same kind of fight he usually fights. The only difference I saw is Alexander looked bigger and his cardio seemed better, but remember this was only a 10rd fight. This fight showed what kind of limited fighter Maidana is, it did not show how good a fighter Alexander is. However, it was a very smart fight for Alexander to pick that would make him look good.

I don't believe Alexander' success tonight will last unless he chooses to pick easy fights located in St. Louis, once he tries to fight top welterweights he will fold again as he did against Kotelnik, Bradley, and Matthysse. By the way Matthysse is a much better fighter than Maidana, he knows how to put his punches together,and he goes to the body much more consistently. Its just that Maidana is better known.

[4Corners]

Maidana was not an easy fight, if that's what you're trying to say. While I am sure that Devon and his team thought it'd be a fairly easy night to out-box Maidana, MANY MANY MANY were picking Maidana to win or make it a really close fight and possibly get robbed or something. It exposed Maidana a bit, but it was also a coming out party for Devon, much more so than his Urango fight was a few years ago. He looked really sharp tonight. And yes, he was punching and holding, but plenty of guys do that a lot. Look at Andre Ward. He out boxes you and hits you, and holds if you try to get on the inside at times, and sometimes will fight with you on the inside, like Devon does.

Alexander deserves respect for beating Maidana down. He looked good and solid at 147. I think the fight was more about Devon not getting gassed by the time the 7th or 8th round rolls around, like he appeared to be in previous fights.

[kiaba360]

Get ready to be called a hater lol. But I believe you're right. However, Maidana looked worst tonight than he usually does, that partially has to do with Devon, but when he started fighting, he seemed a lot more sloppier than usual. He really wasn't setting up ****. I honestly think one guy carried the weight a bit better than the other. Also, Devon's style matched up perfectly with Maidana's, and we all know Maidana can be out-boxed. It was a good opponent, but you're right, the likes of Ortiz/Berto/Mike Jones are gonna be a lot more difficult to defeat.

[jbp23]

I am not trying to say Maidana is an easy fight by any means. Of course there are risks that come with fighting Miadana, due to his punching power, but what good is having punching power when you don't know how to set up your punches in order to use that power. What I am saying is Devon did not have to worry about a jab coming at him, he did not have to worry about lead right hands, all he had to do was move and hold on the inside. He was quicker and landed his usual type of combinations, but Maidana is there to be hit and he fights only one way, he has no ability to make adjustments in a fight. Unlike Matthysse, who made adjustments throwing jabs and straight right hands, plus a consistent body attack. That is all that is needed to beat Alexander. He has shown numerous times that he can be broken mentally in a fight and I don't think he can change that. He can't blame it on weight, he can't blame it on other things, its just his make-up. So when he comes against a fighter who is more than one dimensional he will be broken down mentally and he will give in. He has shown this in 3 fights, one in which he quit. The same mentality that Judah has, by this I mean he is weak mentally and this fight showed me nothing different. Even his corner was worried about him mentally falling apart, just listen to Cunningham, he was worried that Maidana's pressure would break Devon down mentally and he would fall apart as he has done in the past. But Maidana was unable to adjust and Devon did not have to worry about Maidana coming up with a plan b.