By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com was invited by legendary trainer and cutman Miguel Diaz to watch his pupil Marcos Maidana's private sparring session earlier this week. The WBA interm-junior welterweight champion collides with WBA full champion Amir Khan on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Maidana of Argentina, is known for being heavy handed with average hand speed and being more of a brawler than boxer. Maidana has fought twice this year, knocking out Victor Cayo in the spring and winning a unanimous decision against DeMarcus Corley over the summer.
BoxingScene watched Maidana spar a total of six rounds against two different sparring partners. Both sparring partners were tall for the weight division and had fast hands. Perfect choices to help get the Argentine ready for the biggest fight of his career.
Maidana was his typical self in the sense that he displayed his tremendous punching power while rocking both of his sparring partners to the head and to the body. The two sparring partners who will remain nameless, told BoxingScene that Maidana is the heaviest hitter that they had ever faced at junior welterweight.
There is however a subtle change in Maidana's style. While he still was walking his opponent down, he also employed more head movement and a side to side rocking motion similar to what the legendary heavyweight Rocky Marciano used many years ago.
"Khan is going to see some new things. Marcos still hits hard but we are going to go after him. Hit him in the arms, the shoulders, we will hit him where ever we can. Khan will run but it will only be a matter of time before Marcos cuts off the ring and catches him. Khan's chin will get a test," a member of Maidana's team told BoxingScene.
Maidana isn't one to talk much trash and likes keeping to himself. While watching him train and talk to his team he exudes a quiet confidence. His teacher Miguel Diaz is a stark contrast to the quiet pupil. When Khan's name is brought up an animated Diaz said - "Khan? I don't give a f*ck about Khan. Just wait till December 11th and you will see what I am talking about."
After a dry spell, Las Vegas is hosting three key fights in a six week period. Juan Manuel Lopez versus Rafael Marquez led off last weekend with Glen Johnson versus Allan Green in the co-feature.
In two weeks, Juan Manuel Marquez defends his titles versus the rugged Michael Katsidis with Andre Berto taking on Freddie Hernandez and Celestino Caballero moving up to 130 pounds to face Jason Litzau. All three fights will be part of an HBO-televised tripleheader.
Then on December 11th, Khan takes on Maidana with Victor Ortiz fighting Lamont Peterson serving in the co-feature. Khan is a 3-1 favorite over Maidana but Maidana has the ability to end the fight with one punch. Ortiz-Peterson appears to be close to 50-50 fight. This doubleheader appears to be the most evenly matched of the three fight cards.
Boxing fans that live and visit Las Vegas should be happy that both Showtime and HBO are putting on doubleheaders and tripleheaders. This gives fans a reason to show up to the fights early, giving them multiple good fights instead of just the headline and an undercard filled with prospects fighting pushovers and faded veterans fighting tomato cans while trying to get in position for one last payday.
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