By Dan Ambrose: If there was ever a fight where Marcos Maidana (31-2, 28 Ko’s) will need his power 100% to win it’s his fight against Devon Alexander (22-1, 13 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Maidana has a lot of things going against him in this fight, and perhaps the most important thing of all is the judges. He’s fighting in Alexander’s home city and he seems to get all decisions given to him, even when it appears he lost.

Maidana is moving up in weight to take this fight at welterweight and will likely be lighter than Alexander if the photos of the two fighters are any indication. Alexander looks a lot heavier than Maidana, and appears to be at least an inch or two taller than him as well.

Alexander has the better hand speed and foot speed, and a much better jab. To be sure, Alexander has a habit of trying to slug with his opponents but it’s likely that he’s been given marching orders to stay out of the way of Maidana during this fight because it would be playing into Maidana’s hands if Alexander were to stop and try trading shots with him. Maidana is one of those fighters that can literally slug all night long without showing much of any signs of having been in a fight. He rarely shows signs of having taken punishment, whereas his opponents often are left bloody and battered by the ends of their fights with Maidana.

The key to victory for Maidana is go really go after Alexander, cut off the ring and force him to fight him. Alexander won’t stop moving because he knows that if he does it will mean an almost certain knockout. Maidana has to predict where the guy is going and use his feet corner him. It might help Maidana if he jogs after Alexander because he probably won’t catch up to him by using his usual plodding style.