Bradley vs. Maidana on June 19th – Boxing News

By Boxing News - 04/08/2010 - Comments

Image: Bradley vs. Maidana on June 19th – Boxing NewsBy Jim Dower: World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) will be fighting knockout artist Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KO’s) on June 19th at a still to be determined location, according to news from Boxrec. Thus far, this is easily the best match-up in the light welterweight division for all of 2010. Maidana, 26, is one of the most exciting fighters in the division with explosive power, an aggressive fighting style, and a willingness to take punishment in order to inflict his own brand of two-fisted punishment.

Maidana is currently the WBA light welterweight interim champion and is hoping to get a big money fight with World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan in 2011. However, a fight against the 26-year-old Bradley, who most boxing fans consider to be the best fighter in the light welterweight division, is an excellent fight for Maidana. Clearly, Maidana’s management have a lot of belief in him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be putting him in with such a skilled fighter like Bradley.

There’s no question that Bradley has the better hand speed and the better overall boxing skills compared to Maidana. Bradley defends well, has excellent hand speed and top rate power. He’s a fighter that can basically do it all – slug, box from the outside and defend. In the past two years, Bradley has made his mark in the light welterweight division with wins over Junior Witter, Kendall Holt and Lamont Peterson. Bradley has beaten three really good fighters and is now going to be facing an altogether different type of fighter with the hard hitting Maidana.

You really can’t compare Maidana to any of those guys or any of the previous 25 opponents that Bradley has fought. Maidana hits incredibly hard with every punch and seems to be naturally very powerful. He doesn’t have load up with his shots in order to hurt his opponents, and can punch with good power with either hand. Bradley is going to have a real battle on his hands with Maidana. His last opponent Victor Cayo, who Bradley describes as “a mover”, was supposed to have been able to use movement to keep away from Maidana.

It didn’t work out that way unfortunately for Cayo, as Maidana went right after Cayo and made him fight. Maidana’s power was eventually too much for Cayo, as he wilted in the 6th round, taking huge punishment in the round until finally going down and staying down from a hard body shot. Bradley could find himself having the same problem of trying to keep Maidana off of him.

It’s not easy to keep Maidana away, because he walks through shots and just keeps on coming until he’s on top of his opponent and raining punches. Bradley will be able to elude Maidana up to a point, but because of his short height of 5’7” compared to the 5’9” Maidana, Bradley is going to have to go toe-to-toe with Maidana if he wants to get out of the fight with a win.

I don’t think Bradley can win by running, because Maidana will cut off the ring anyway and make him fight. The question is whether Bradley has the power, the toughness and the chin to stand up to Maidana’s style of fighting. In the end, he may not be able to handle it and could end up like both Cayo and Victor Ortiz in getting taken out by Maidana.



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