By Dan Ambrose: WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (31-2, 28 KO’s) already feels he needs a knockout against Devon Alexander (22-1, 13 KO’s) this Saturday night in order to walk out the winner at the Scottrade Center, in Saint Louis, Missouri. Maidana is entering hostile territory where no visiting fighter has ever emerged as the winner.

Maidana told fightnews.com “His [Alexander] foot speed [will cause problems] if I can’t catch up to him to unload my shots…if he stands in front of me I’m going to hurt him.”

Maidanas then came right out and said that he probably has to knock Alexander out to get the win on Saturday, saying “Yes, by knockout.”

The last two fights – Andriy Kotelnik and Lucas Matthysse – that fought Alexander in Saint Louis came home losers by controversial decisions. Few boxing fans agreed with the decisions but what could you do? Once the decision is made there’s not much that can be done. Maidana is slower than Kotelnik and Matthysse. He may hit harder than both of them but if he can’t up to Alexander to land his shots, then he’s not going to be able to deliver his huge blows. Alexander will fight him in close at times, he’s likely going to spent most of the time running in order to keep from getting hit with Maidana’s big shots.

Getting through a fight with Maidana is hard enough even when a fighter is running for 10 rounds. We saw Amir Khan run for 12 rounds continuously in his win over Maidana in Decmber 2010, but Maidana still eventually caught up with Khan in the 10th round and staggered him badly with a right hand. Alexander won’t be as disciplined as Khan nor will he choose to hold like Khan did. Maidana will have his chances to land his big shots. The only question is whether his power will still be there due to the exertion involved with chasing Alexander around for 10 rounds.