Marcos Maidana

Marcos Maidana
Maidana in 2009
Statistics
Real name	Marcos René Maidana
Nickname(s)	El Chino[1]
Rated at	Light welterweight Welterweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Reach	69 in (175 cm)
Nationality	Argentine
Born	July 17, 1983 Margarita, Santa Fe, Argentina
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	40
Wins	35
Wins by KO	31
Losses	5

Marcos René Maidana (born July 17, 1983) is an Argentine professional boxer and a two-weight former world champion, having held the WBA (Regular) super lightweight and WBA (Super) welterweight titles. A versatile brawler in the ring, Maidana is well known for his punching power.

Professional career

Light Welterweight

On February 2, 2009, the then-WBA Light Welterweight titleholder Andreas Kotelnik beat the then-undefeated Maidana (25-0, 24 knockouts) via controversial split decision, with the judges scoring the fight 115–114, 113–115, 115–113 in Kotelnik's favour.

Maidana's first fight in the United States was against Mexican-American Victor Ortíz, that took place on June 27, 2009.^[3] Maidana was knocked down three times within the first two rounds, but rallied and came back to beat Ortiz for the interim WBA super lightweight title with a sixth-round TKO victory.^[3]

After his fight with Ortiz, it was rumoured that Maidana would face British boxer, and WBA super lightweight champion, Amir Khan, who won the title after defeating Andreas Kotelnik.^[4] However, Khan opted for Paulie Malignaggi as his next opponent. As a result, Maidana was scheduled to fight on March 27, 2010 against Victor Cayo, whose record, at that time, was 24-0 with 75% of victories coming by way of knockout.^[5] Maidana knocked out the undefeated Cayo in the sixth round to retain his interim WBA super lightweight title and improve his record to 28-1, with 27 knockouts.^[6]

After failing to secure a fight with Timothy Bradley, Maidana fought and defeated DeMarcus Corley in August 2010. Despite knocking Corley down in the 7th round, Maidana had to go the distance for only the third time in his career, eventually securing the victory via unanimous decision (117–110, 117–110, 115–112).^[7][8]

Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana

Before his fight with Corley, Maidana accused Khan and trainer Freddie Roach of "hypocrisy" and called out Khan in an interview:

“

I'll go to Khan's home soil to take the other portion of the WBA title, which belongs to me ... They say they want me next when the cameras and mics are on. But when it comes to make the fight for real, Roach begs Golden Boy Promotions to keep Khan away from me.[9]

”

On September 15, ESPN revealed that both fighters had agreed to fight on December 11 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.^[10]

Khan dominated the fight early and knocked down Maidana in the 1st round with a left hook to the liver, but had to withstand a furious barrage by Maidana in round 10, and continually backed up during rounds 11 and 12. Maidana was unable to finish Khan however, who went on to win the fight by unanimous decision.^[11][12] The fight was awarded the Boxing Writers Association of America Award for Fight of the Year.^[13]

Erik Morales vs. Marcos Maidana

In the first round against Erik Morales, Maidana came out with ferocity as expected and proceeded to batter his older opponent around the ring. He landed multiple power punches, including an uppercut that opened a huge swelling over Morales' left eye which worsened over the course of the fight, and when the Mexican walked back to his corner having taken a large amount of punishment in the opening three minutes most observers felt their predictions were being fulfilled. The one-sided nature of the bout continued for the next couple of rounds, but then at the end of the third round Morales begin to fight back and landed a hard combination to the head of Maidana and the tide began to turn.

From the fourth round onwards and although he was effectively fighting with one eye, Morales gave as good as he got and was landing the cleaner more effective shots, albeit occasionally being swarmed by the sheer number of punches being landed in return by the relentless Maidana. The fight became a see-saw affair and then, in the eighth round, Morales hit Maidana with a huge left hook that almost stopped the Argentinian. The next couple of rounds continued in this fashion, with Maidana using his strength and stamina to bully Morales and the Mexican using his sharper punching and ring intelligence to land effective counters and combinations. The fight was fast turning into a modern classic.

In the "championship rounds" (the eleventh and twelfth), Morales seemed to tire and Maidana took advantage, overwhelming him with his strength and punishing the ageing warrior continually to the head and body. Maidana finished the fight much the stronger of the two and his late surge gave him the win on the scorecards, 116–112 twice with the third judge scoring the fight a draw, 114–114.

Maidana was scheduled to defend his title Aug. 27 against Robert Guerrero, but Guerrero suffered a shoulder injury less than two weeks before the fight. Maidana's fought Petr Petrov of Russia on Sept. 23 instead, winning by fourth round knockout.^[14]

Welterweight

On February 25, 2012 Maidana moved up to welterweight and fought Devon Alexander who was also moving up in weight. Maidana clearly seemed uncomfortable in his first fight at the new weight as Alexander dominated the fight and went on to win a lopsided unanimous decision. In his first fight following the Alexander loss, Maidana defeated Jesus Soto Karass on September 15, 2012 by eighth round TKO in a back-and-forth slugfest.^[15]

Maidana then fought the largely unknown Angel Martinez on December 12, 2012. Maidana won the fight by KO in the third round.

Maidana scored a TKO over welterweight contender Josesito Lopez in the sixth round of a June 9, 2013 fight. Maidana had injured his hip in the second round and Lopez capitalized tagging his opponent with hard shots. Maidana was able to reverse the tide and hurt Lopez with an overhand right in the sixth round that dropped him to the canvas.^[16] Lopez later said that Maidana is the hardest puncher he ever faced.^[17]

Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana

On December 14, 2013, Marcos Maidana defeated the heavily favored Adrien Broner after 12 rounds via unanimous decision to win the WBA Welterweight title. Maidana dropped the previously unbeaten Broner in the second and eighth rounds and won by comfortable margins on all three judges scorecards, 115–110, 116–109, 117–109. Maidana was a 3/1 underdog entering this fight.^[18] He had now won four consecutive fights under the tutelage of boxing trainer Robert Garcia.

Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana

Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana, billed as "The Moment", was a boxing welterweight championship superfight. The bout was held on May 3, 2014, in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, on Showtime PPV. Maidana lost by a Majority Decision, with one judge scoring the bout 114-114 (Draw), and the other two 117-111, and 116-112 in favor of Floyd Mayweather.^[19]

Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana II

A rematch with Mayweather was later confirmed, with the bout taking place on September 13, 2014 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with Mayweather's WBA (Super), WBC and The Ring welterweight titles at stake, as well as Mayweather's WBC light middleweight title. Mayweather won the fairly one sided affair via unanimous decision, with scores of 115-112, 116-111 and 116-111. Maidana hurt Mayweather greatly at the end of the third round, he drew Floyd in with a jab that he attempted to counter with a straight right hand but in the process moved his head into a return counter by Maidana in the form of an overhand right that sent Floyd back into the ropes, just as the bell rang to end the round. Despite this, Maidana had little success in the bout.^[20][21]

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major World Titles:

• WBA Interim Light Welterweight Champion (140 lbs)
• WBA (Regular) Light Welterweight Champion (140 lbs)
• WBA Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

Regional/International Titles:

• WBA Fedelatin Light Welterweight Champion (140 lbs)
• WBA International Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)
• WBA Inter-Continental Welterweight Champion (147 lbs)

Pay-per-view bouts

Date	Fight	Billing	Buys	Network
April 9, 2011	Morales vs. Maidana	Action Heroes	50,000	HBO
May 3, 2014	Mayweather vs. Maidana	The Moment	900,000	Showtime
September 13, 2014	Mayweather vs. Maidana	Mayhem	925,000	Showtime

References

1. La entrada del Chino Maidana | Olé. Ole.com.ar. Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
2. "Professional boxing record of Marcos Maidana". BoxRec. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
3. Marcos Rene Maidana – Boxer. Boxrec.com (1983-07-17). Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
4. "Amir Khan set for US fight debut against Marcos Maidana". BBC Sport – Boxing. 2010-01-20. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
5. "Professional boxing record of Victor Manuel Cayo". BoxRec. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
6. "ESPN – Marcos Maidana KOs Victor Cayo". ESPN Boxing. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
7. "Maidana still champion: Has trouble, but beats Corley". Fightnews.com. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
8. Marcos Rene Maidana – Boxer. Boxrec.com (1983-07-17). Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
9. "Maidana: "Khan, Roach hugging Talking and Fight Me!"". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
10. "Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana finally fight". ESPN Boxing. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
11. Khan looks shaky in beating Maidana. Boxingnews24.com (2010-12-14). Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
12. Joe Cortez to referee Khan vs. Maidana fight: This might work well for Amir. Boxingnews24.com (2010-12-07). Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
13. Amir scoops American honour, Sky Sports
14. Maidana vs Petrov Results: No Trouble for Maidana in Argentina, TKO-4 Win. Bad Left Hook. Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
15. Marcos Maidana wins bitter brawl over Jesus Soto Karras – ESPN. Espn.go.com (2012-09-16). Retrieved on 2014-05-04.
16. Coppinger, Mike (2013-06-09). "Marcos Maidana stops Josesito Lopez in 6th round". USA Today.
17. Josesito Lopez: Biggest Puncher I have ever Faced, EsNews (October 22, 2015)
18. Velin, Bob (2013-12-14). "Marcos Maidana stuns Adrien Broner for welterweight belt". USA Today.
19. http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/10879956/floyd-mayweather-jr-scores-majority-decision-marcos-maidana-welterweight-unification-fight
20. "Floyd Mayweather confirms Marcos Maidana rematch on September 13". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
21. "Mayweather and Maidana to fight for two-weight WBC titles". World Boxing News. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
22. Marcos MaidickHard Professional Boxing Record –. Boxrec.com. Retrieved on 2013-03-13.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Marcos Maidana from BoxRec