By Scott Gilfoid: With both Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao out of the picture, WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (30-2, 27 KO’s) is very possibly HBO’s number #1 fighter in terms of bringing excitement to boxing fans around the United States. Heck, even with Mayweather and Pacquiao still around, Maidana may be the most exciting fighter that HBO has going for them. Maidana looked magnificent on Saturday night in bringing out the best in Morales in what’s sure to be the fight of the year.
Maidana wore the former three-time world champion Morales down with sledgehammer shots and by the 10th round, Maidana was pounding on a big slab of beef with one huge anvil-like shot after another. Maidana turned Morales’ right eye to a swollen ugly mass that looked dangerously hurt. The fight perhaps should have been stopped due to the swelling on that eye and hopefully Morales doesn’t wind up with permanent eye damage.
It just shows you how powerful Maidana’s punches hard because he had Morales looking like he crawled out of a war zone after only one round. The rest of the fight was Maidana making Morales fight and getting the very best out of the aging fighter. Maidana has that way of bringing fighters up to their peak potential and by doing so Maidana has quickly become arguably the most interesting fighter to watch on HBO. Forget about Pacquiao, Mayweather and Amir Khan, Maidana is the guy that brings excitement to the game with his nonstop attack mode.
The Maidana-Morales fight was one where I was literally on the edge of my chair the entire 12 rounds. There was never a dull moment during the action. Morales, to his credit, fought his heart out and seemed to roll back the years on this night. Maidana as usual was pure gold the way he kept firing power punch after power punch without stop. It was an even better fight to watch than the masterpiece that Maidana put on in his fight against Khan last December. Morales is partly to thank for that by running and holding the way that Khan did.
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