By Dan Ambrose: Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KO’s) expressed doubt yesterday that former WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KO’s) would be interested in taking him on next after losing by a 10 round technical decision to WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley last weekend.
Maidana, a much bigger puncher and better pressure fighter than Bradley, said this on his twitter: “I don’t think Devon would want to meet me in the ring.”
Alexander reportedly is interested in fighting Maidana next, but only if he can’t get an immediate rematch with Bradley. The chances of an immediate rematch between Bradley and Alexander is pretty slim at this point, because HBO is likely going to pass on showing that fight again because of how boring their fight was.
However, it’s also unclear whether HBO would even be interested in putting on Alexander vs. Maidana, because it’s a fight which might be a duplicate of the Bradley-Alexander fight, minus the headbutts. Alexander really performed poorly against Bradley, frequently clinching, running, holding, wrestling and backing away often. Alexander looked timid from the very start until finally quitting in the 10th.
Against an even bigger puncher in Maidana, we could see even more running, clinching and non-action from Alexander. HBO might be wise to pass on wasting Maidana on a fight against Alexander. Maidana would be better to be matched against Bradley.
If HBO does want to put the Maidana-Alexander fight on, they’re going to have to wait until at least June before Alexander will be ready to fight again because of the cuts he suffered against Bradley. The cuts are going to need a considerable amount of time to heal before he’s ready to get back in the ring.
That’s not exactly fair for Maidana, because he hasn’t fought since December when he fought Amir Khan. If Maidana is forced to wait until June or July to fight, he will have lost out on a good fight to take in between.
Maidana would like to fight a rematch with Khan or face Bradley. Those are obviously much better options for Maidana than to take on Alexander after his poor performance against Bradley. That would be like rewarding Alexander and penalizing Maidana. Alexander should work his way back into the big four by taking on some top fighters and showing that he can fight without clinching, holding, wrestling, running and quitting. Putting him in with Maidana would be a gift to Alexander. I don’t think he’s good for HBO because of his boring style of fighting. If HBO wants Maidana to put Alexander out of his misery, then I can understand this fight, but that’s the only reason. It won’t be interesting watching Maidana have to chase the reluctant Alexander around the ring all night like Bradley was doing.
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