Maidana vs. Petrov on September 23: Marcos fighting a lightweight

By Boxing News - 09/08/2011 - Comments

Image: Maidana vs. Petrov on September 23: Marcos fighting a lightweightBy William Mackay: Marcos Maidana (30-2, 27 KO’s) will be taking on a lightweight fighter Petr Petrov (29-2, 13 KO’s) from the 2nd tier on September 23 in a stay busy fight at the Sociedad Alemana Villa Ballester, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Maidana, 28, is using this fight to stay sharp after Robert Guerrero suffered an injury a week before their scheduled August 27th fight. Maidana wanted to keep the fight date, but no opponent was found. Instead, he’ll be fighting little known 28-year-old Petrov to keep busy. The 5’7″ Petrov is short, fast and not particularly powerful.

He does have decent left hook, but he’s more of boxer than a puncher. However, most of Petrov’s fights have been in the four to six round category, which may make it tough on him once the fight goes beyond his normal six rounds comfort zone. He likes to fight outside for the most part but does come inside to throw a few shots every now and then.

With his speed, he’ll likely give Maidana a lot of problems in the first half of the fight if Maidana is unable to pressure him enough to take him out. Maidana is going to need to really go after this guy, because he’ll make Maidana look slow and limited with his speed and the last thing Maidana needs to do is give a small guy like Petrov confidence.

We could see Maidana get beaten by this guy if he can’t corner him. Petrov has never stopped before during his 11-year pro career, but he also has faced largely 2nd tier opposition so it’s still difficult to say how he’ll handle the much bigger and stronger Maidana’s shots in this fight. It is disappointing that Maidana is being matched up against a lightweight opponent instead of someone from his own weight class. It’s never nice to see a fighter’s management picking from a division below their fighter’s weight class when looking for opponents.

Maidana should be able to win this fight based on his superior size, reach and power. Petrov is really short, and doesn’t look to be a true 5’7″. The size difference in this fight should be enough for Maidana to make up for his speed disadvantage against the much quicker Petrov and get a stoppage at some point. However, if Maidana gasses out like he did against DeMarcus Corley, we could see an upset. Petrov is a much better boxer than Maidana.



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