By Chris Robinson
On Thursday afternoon Marcos Rene Madiana continued with his second day of training in Las Vegas at Barry’s Boxing right off of the strip. The Argentinean firecracker will be attempting to upset British braggart Amir Khan inside of the nearby Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in one of the year’s most intriguing matchups.
Maidana arrived in America this past Sunday and still has a solid seven weeks of preparation left before he faces the reigning WBA junior welterweight champion in his biggest fight as a professional. Maidana’s calm demeanor beguiles his viscous nature inside of the ring and he doesn’t seem intimidated by the task of tackling Khan.
“He’s very fast, both with his hands and his legs,” Maidana said with respect of his fellow pugilist. “Regarding weaknesses, you are going to see it when I punch him. I’m pretty confident that if I catch with a good punch he will fall down because he was already knocked out once. I guess his chin is not that strong.”
The fight Maidana is referring to is Khan’s lone loss as a professional, his demoralizing September 2008 blowout at the hands of Breidis Prescott. The developments in that bout, coupled with Maidana’s glaring abundance of power, figures to give him a very realistic chance of ending Khan’s night early if he can connect.
It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Maidana were to pull off the victory, as his showdown with Khan harkens memories to his June 2009 stoppage over talented Victor Ortiz inside of the Staples Center in Los Angeles. In that fight Maidana tasted the canvas early and often but persevered and ending up making his Oxnard, California foe say ‘No Mas’ in the 6th round. It was a glorious victory and one that Maidana claims could have been easier had he kept his psyche in check.
“When I was knocked down three times, I wasn’t that bad at all,” Maidana continued. “What came to my mind at the moment was that I was nervous. The nerves were playing against myself. I tried to focus, relax, calm down and do the things better, which is eventually what happened.”
With that victory Maidana not only bounced back fro a controversial split decision loss to Andriy Kotelnik just four months prior but also introduced himself to American audiences as a fighter to keep an eye on in the future.
“Obviously it meant a lot to me because from that fight on I was not only able to win a world championship, which was a dream to me, but also many doors were opened to me, like this opportunity. When I remember that fight all of that comes to me.”
Maidana retuned to U.S. soil this past March with a stirring knockout over game Dominican Victor Cayo inside of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in town. While that fight was a fine showcase of Maidana’s unrelenting will it has been his latest contest, a late August decision over former champion DeMarcus Corley, that has given him the most notice for all the wrong reasons as he struggled to get going against the Washington, D.C. fighter.
“I was inactive for three months after the Cayo fight,” Maidana said as he searched for the right words to sum up his performance. “Then I went up in weight, I was like 168 pounds and I had only five weeks to lose weight. Also we had to come to Los Angeles. But on the other hand I make no excuses and Corley is a very experienced and difficult fighter. It’s the kind of opponent where you just go there and knock him out. I learned a very good lesson in that fight.”
While in Las Vegas Maidana says that his time is always low key and that he only slightly enjoys himself on the weekends when he does some occasional sightseeing. More than anything, what seems to eat away at the modest 27-year old is the various sacrifices he must make to ensure he is at his best.
“Every time I have to set up my training camp I am away from my family, my son, my mom, my brothers and sisters,” Maidana explained. “Also I can not eat. I can not enjoy myself and go to my hometown and have a big plate of barbecue there. Those little things you can not enjoy it while in preparation. But basically it’s about my loved ones and being away from them.”
Heading into his fight with Khan there has been a noticeable war of words between the two parties that makes you wonder if there is some genuine hatred or dislike floating around. In closing Maidana says that it’s nothing personal and he is looking forward to settling the score when the two men are through the ropes.
“It’s all about business but at the same time I don’t like talking. I know Amir likes to talk but I feel he talks too much and that makes me feel uncomfortable. So I’m positive inside of the ring it will be only him and only me and we can settle things in the ring.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
