By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Association light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (27-1, 26 KO’s) will be fighting this Saturday night against undefeated Victor Cayo (24-0, 16 KO’s) at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card will have a rematch between lightweights Ali Funeka and Joan Guzman, who will be fighting for the IBF lightweight title. Also on the card will be middleweight contender Daniel Jacobs (18-0, 15 KO’s) going up against Jose Miguel Rodriguez Berrio (20-4, 12 KO’s) in an eight round bout.

Maidana, 26, has a very hard fight in front of him with the unbeaten Cayo. Maidana is a pure slugger with massive power in each fist and a high pressure offense that makes it tough on his opponents. Maidana has no other choice but to put constant forward pressure on Cayo all fight long if he wants to get out of this fight with the win. Cayo is two inches taller than Maidana at a lanky 5’11”, with long arms and an elusive style of fighting.

Cayo likes to back away and throw shots. On the outside, he’s very hard to beat because of his long arms and ability to avoid punches. Unless Maidana can stay on top of Cayo and keep him backing up, there’s a good chance that Cayo will be able to win a decision. Cayo isn’t a really puncher, and slaps a lot with his shots. However, he’s got sneaky power and likes to load up with hard upper cuts and right hands from time to time and try to catch his opponents off guard.

But in looking at Cayo’s last two fights against Julio Diaz and Julio Reyes, Cayo is vulnerable at times on defense. Again and again in his fights, Cayo likes to back away to the ropes where he lets his opponents get near to him before he moves away laterally. If Cayo lets Maidana get anywhere near him on Saturday nights, he’s going to have some problems. Maidana hits very hard and is a good puncher in close.

Cayo could play into his hands if he lets Maidana in close the way he’s done with his last opponents. On the outside, Cayo is a lot better and might be able to control Maidana. However, Cayo backs up a lot in his fights and he’s not an effective puncher when he’s backing up. Maidana has to keep him backing up, force him to the ropes as much as possible and punish him.

Jacobs, 23, hasn’t seen action since struggling to beat Ishe Smith by an unimpressive 10 round decision last August. Jacobs, ranked #6 WBA, #6 WBO and #8 WBC, was staggered by Smith in that fight, and had to battle hard to get the win. However, Jacobs got the win and showed that he’s got good recovery skills. As for this Saturday’s fight, Jacobs probably won’t be really tested by Berrio, because the fighter has lost his last three fights, including one of them being a 1st round knockout at the hands of Marco Antonio Rubio in October 2009.

Jacobs has good power when he loads up on his shots, but more of a boxer rather than a slugger nowadays. If Jacobs is going to go anywhere in the middleweight division, he’s going to have to know when to show his power and when to focus more on boxing. Against Smith, Jacobs might have been better off if he had shown more power, because he focused a little too much on boxing in that fight and ended up having to really battle in the end to get the win. At 23, the sky’s the limit for Jacobs. There’s not much talent in the middleweight division besides Kelly Pavlik, Paul Williams and Gennady Golovkin. If Jacobs can find a little more power, he could be a future champion.