Marcos Maidana; The Welterweight

It was not too long ago that Marcos Maidana wanted no part of the welterweights out there…..or perhaps that was just in reference to Keith Thurman, and their fight that fell through due to Maidana “not wanting to move up in weight” and then nonetheless moving up after the fight had fallen through (though one has to admit that after the Devon Alexander fight he certainly did not look too great in his debut at 147lbs). Irregardless, we have in front of us a pretty good welterweight in Maidana at the moment. Not spectacular, not the future of the division, not even the present of the division, but a very exciting fighter to witness. Which is what it is all about; bring in the fans! In his now fourth fight at the weight he still looks a bit shaky but we got to see exactly what the man brings: excitement. Maybe some people already knew that, it does not take too many glances at his fights or even boxrec to see hidden gems, but at least we know what we are getting every time out from him. Now everyone is screaming for a showdown between Maidana and his fellow countryman Lucas Matthysse. As mouth watering as it sounds, I gotta say that I think it would be a blowout. I don’t say this because I think Matthysse is some mythical pound for pound beast but instead I base it off of matchups. If you come straight at Matthysse, and you are easy to hit, you are going to get KO’ed. Simple as that. ***Take note of this Danny Garcia*** It takes a different kind of animal to beat Matthysse, one who can box with a specific gameplan and stick to it entirely. Maybe Garcia could do it, maybe not. But I expect it will be someone rising in the rankings and a future star that will do it. Maybe Adrien Broner or perhaps a real up-and-comer like Terrence Crawford (settle down, im simply saying that boxing style). One thing I noticed with Maidana during the fight is that he still very very vulnerable to body shots. He winces in pain any time someone hits him to that soft mid section. We have seen this before too – so at some point an opponent is going to capitalize off of it and get the stoppage I suspect. Or at least slow him down enough to outbox him or stay on top for the rest of the fight (cough cough Amir Khan fight, cough cough). Heck Lopez almost had him out of there in the 5th round just from continuous body shots. This is the area to target on Maidana – as he seems to have a very good chin on his shoulders. Maidana can create some really exciting matchups in the division no doubt. Unfortunately we are unlikely to see him against Brandon Rios – seeing as how the two spar together constantly and share the same trainer in Robert Garcia. That, to me, would be one of the better matchups for him. Who knows though, maybe we can get a Victor Ortiz rematch that is long overdue? Would love to see that one.