By William Mackay: The bout between World Boxing Association light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s) and WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) has been rescheduled for July 17th, according to Fight News. Last week it was announced that Maidana, 26, had injured his back and would need at least three weeks to recover from the injury. The original date for their fight was supposed to be June 19th. The extra time should give Maidana to properly heal from his back injury and be ready to face Bradley at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California.

In an article at Mydesert, Bradley says “That boy [Maidana] is really going to get hurt. I had 10 weeks to get ready and now I have longer? It’s a wrap. Talk about super ready, without a doubt.” Bradley is considered to be the best fighter in the light welterweight division by a lot of boxing fans. However, Bradley hasn’t fought anyone like Maidana before. Bradley’s biggest wins have come against Lamont Peterson, Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt, Miguel Vazquez and Junior Witter. Those are all good fighters, no question about it, but there’s a very high possibility that Maidana, with his big power and aggressive fighting style, would beat each one of those fighters by knockout.

It’s hard to see Holt, Witter, Cherry and Peterson being able to stand up to the pressure and power from Maidana without folding. This is why the Bradley-Maidana fight is hard to make a prediction for. Bradley is a great fighter, but he’s small at only 5’7” compared to the 5’9” Maidana, has a weak chin and likes to brawl on the inside. All of those things work on Maidana’s favor. He is especially good at fighting on the inside and has big power.

If Maidana can hurt Bradley with one of his big shots, then Maidana would have a good chance of putting him away. Holt was able to knock Bradley down two times in their fight last year in April. However, Holt didn’t throw enough punches and go after Bradley the way that he should have had if he wanted to get the win. Maidana will be on Bradley all night long, making it hard for him.

Bradley has the much better hand speed and is good at moving, but he doesn’t typically fight on the outside and really doesn’t move a lot. Bradley is probably going to try and slug with Maidana for 12 rounds, and that’s going to give Maidana a good chance of stopping him. Bradley appears to be overconfident and that could lead him to make big mistakes against Maidana. He seems him as slow, but that’s exactly what Maidana’s other opponents felt about him before fighting him. Bradley has got a fight on his hands with Maidana, whether he realizes that or not. He’s going to have to show some new skills if he wants to get out of the Maidana fight in one piece.