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By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
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When junior welterweight titlist Marcos Maidana's Aug. 27 defense against Robert Guerrero was canceled because Guerrero suffered a shoulder injury less than two weeks before the fight, he did not want to let his 12 weeks of training go to waste.
So Maidana's team quickly rescheduled him to fight on Sept. 23 in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. And now Maidana has an opponent: Petr Petrov, Maidana's adviser, Sebastian Contursi, told ESPN.com on Thursday.
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Get the latest scoop and analysis on the world of boxing from ESPN.com's Dan Rafael in his blog.
Maidana (30-2, 27 KOs) was supposed to fight Guerrero in an HBO main event in Guerrero's home region of San Jose, Calif., but Guerrero suffered a torn rotator cuff in one of his final sparring sessions. With Guerrero having surgery that will keep him out for about four months, promoter Golden Boy and Contursi made other arrangements.
"As everybody knows we went through a tough training camp for Guerrero that lasted three months between training in Argentina and Puerto Rico," Maidana said. "But we couldn't fight so I feel like knocking anyone out right now. You'll see me on Sept. 23."
After the fight with Guerrero was called off, Maidana continued to train knowing his team was trying to set up another fight.
"We got back to Argentina and started a new training camp in the city of Rafaela with all my team," he said. "I am ready since a while now, so we're just doing a maintenance routine."
The 28-year-old Petrov (29-2-2, 13 KOs), who was born in Russia but has fought most of his career in Spain, has won 13 fights in a row but is relatively untested. He has been fighting mainly six- and eight-round fights. The one notable opponent of Petrov's career, Vitali Tajbert, who later won a junior lightweight title, won an eight-round unanimous decision against him in 2007.
"It hasn't been easy to secure a rival for Maidana as many of the potential rivals are not available for one reason or another," Contursi said. "Others asked for a lot of money, amounts that are impossible to pay in Argentina."
Maidana, 28, has been in several exciting fights, including a decision loss to Amir Khan in a December title bout that was voted the 2010 fight of the year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Maidana bounced back to win a majority decision against former three-division champion Erik Morales in April in a fight of the year candidate for 2011.
Maidana also owns a TKO win against reigning welterweight titlist Victor Ortiz, who defends against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 17.
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id...r-23-argentina
ESPN.com
Archive
When junior welterweight titlist Marcos Maidana's Aug. 27 defense against Robert Guerrero was canceled because Guerrero suffered a shoulder injury less than two weeks before the fight, he did not want to let his 12 weeks of training go to waste.
So Maidana's team quickly rescheduled him to fight on Sept. 23 in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. And now Maidana has an opponent: Petr Petrov, Maidana's adviser, Sebastian Contursi, told ESPN.com on Thursday.
Rafael's boxing blog
Get the latest scoop and analysis on the world of boxing from ESPN.com's Dan Rafael in his blog.
Maidana (30-2, 27 KOs) was supposed to fight Guerrero in an HBO main event in Guerrero's home region of San Jose, Calif., but Guerrero suffered a torn rotator cuff in one of his final sparring sessions. With Guerrero having surgery that will keep him out for about four months, promoter Golden Boy and Contursi made other arrangements.
"As everybody knows we went through a tough training camp for Guerrero that lasted three months between training in Argentina and Puerto Rico," Maidana said. "But we couldn't fight so I feel like knocking anyone out right now. You'll see me on Sept. 23."
After the fight with Guerrero was called off, Maidana continued to train knowing his team was trying to set up another fight.
"We got back to Argentina and started a new training camp in the city of Rafaela with all my team," he said. "I am ready since a while now, so we're just doing a maintenance routine."
The 28-year-old Petrov (29-2-2, 13 KOs), who was born in Russia but has fought most of his career in Spain, has won 13 fights in a row but is relatively untested. He has been fighting mainly six- and eight-round fights. The one notable opponent of Petrov's career, Vitali Tajbert, who later won a junior lightweight title, won an eight-round unanimous decision against him in 2007.
"It hasn't been easy to secure a rival for Maidana as many of the potential rivals are not available for one reason or another," Contursi said. "Others asked for a lot of money, amounts that are impossible to pay in Argentina."
Maidana, 28, has been in several exciting fights, including a decision loss to Amir Khan in a December title bout that was voted the 2010 fight of the year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Maidana bounced back to win a majority decision against former three-division champion Erik Morales in April in a fight of the year candidate for 2011.
Maidana also owns a TKO win against reigning welterweight titlist Victor Ortiz, who defends against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 17.
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id...r-23-argentina
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