Bradley could be facing Maidana next

By Boxing News - 04/06/2010 - Comments

Image: Bradley could be facing Maidana nextBy Jim Dower: According to news from Dan Rafael of ESPN, unbeaten World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) could be facing WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s) next instead of welterweight Luis Carlos Abregu. A fight between Maidana and Bradley would be a sensational bout, much better than a mismatch like Bradley and Abregu. It’s not that Abregu isn’t a decent fighter, because he’s a good welterweight, but he doesn’t bring the same kind of excitement to the ring that the hard punching and aggressive Maidana does.

Rafael says that he’s heard from “multiple sources” that Bradley won’t be fighting Abregu on June 19th, and that a fight between Bradley and Maidana is being worked out. Maidana looked good in defeating number #2 ranked WBA light welterweight contender Victor Cayo a couple of weeks ago on March 27th. The fight was a real slugfest with both Maidana and Cayo spending portions of the fight trading big shots. Cayo tried to box a little, but Maidana’s pressure forced him to trade with him.

Eventually, Cayo started wearing down and taking punishment in the 5th round. By the 6th, the fight was no longer competitive, as Maidana pummeled Cayo with punch after punch without anything coming back from Cayo. Maidana finally took Cayo out with a hard right hand to the midsection that dropped Cayo for the count. Maidana took a lot of shots in the fight, but showed a good chin and never stopped throwing his own big power shots.

Maidana would be a very tough fight for Bradley, because he likes to trade with his opponents on the inside. Bradley’s a lot faster than Maidana, there’s no doubt about that. However, Bradley’s chin will be a real question mark if this fight gets put together. Bradley was dropped twice by Kendall Holt last year in April 2009. Holt can punch a little, but he’s not the same kind of puncher as Maidana.

Bradley could be in for a tough fight here with Maidana if this fight does get made. This isn’t someone he’s going to be able to dominate on the inside without taking a lot of punishment like he did with Lamont Peterson recently, and like he was doing in the three rounds with Nate Campbell last year before their fight was stopped due to a head butt.

Maidana would probably have to knock Bradley out to get a win against him, because he doesn’t have the same kind of boxing skills as Bradley. Still, it should be an interesting fight if it can be made. In the past two years, Bradley has defeated Edner Cherry, Junior Witter, Holt and Peterson. Those wins were very impressive, and many boxing experts now see Bradley as the best fighter in the light welterweight division.

Maidana, from Argentina, was beaten by Andriy Kotelnik, a German based fighter, by a questionable 12 round split decision in February 2009. The fight took place in Germany, and many people who have since seen the fight felt that Maidana should have been given the win. Kotelnik got pretty beat up despite getting the win. Maidana has rebounded from the loss to Kotelnik by chalking up three consecutive wins over Victor Ortiz, William Gonzalez and Cayo. The win over Ortiz, a top Golden Boy Promotions prospect, took place on HBO. Maidana was knocked down several times in that fight, but came back to blast Ortiz down and make him quit in the 6th.



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