By Dan Ambrose: Marcos Maidana (31-3, 28 KO’s) will be returning to the light welterweight division (140lbs) to resume defending his World Boxing Association title after having lost badly in his experiment in moving up in weight to fight Devon Alexander at 147 last Saturday night. Maidana, 28, was beaten by a shutout 10 round unanimous decision by Alexander, and was never competitive even for an instant.

According to Chris Robinson at examiner.com, Maidana said he felt “Weak” at 147, which would explain his last of punching power in the weight. It’s hard to understand where his power went because it was only a move up in weight of a mere seven pounds, not enough to have a major effect on his strength. However, what was likely the main reason for Maidana’s lack of strength was the way Alexander crowded him all night long forcing him to fight a lot closer than he’s used to. Maidana needed to be able to punch on the inside with little room and he wasn’t able to. Alexander wasn’t either, but he controlled the action from the outside with his fast hands and his hit and grab style. Maidana is going to need to learn how to deal with those types of fighters because he’ll likely be seeing a lot more of that in the future after other fighters watch the video of Maidana’s loss.

Maidana can still do a lot at 140. He’s going to have to defend his WBA title soon and it’s going to likely be the winner of the May 19th Lucas Matthysse vs. Humberto Soto fight. That’s not going to be easy for Maidana because both of those guys have superb boxing skills and aren’t likely going to be bowled over by Maidana. Matthysse fought a lot better against Alexander than Maidana did, and dominated him on the inside and wasn’t troubled in the least by Alexander’s attempts to grab him frequently.