Marcos Madiana v DeMarcus Corley
It would be a surprise of huge magnitude if Marcos Maidana didn’t win tomorrow night’s WBA interim light-welterweight title clash with Demarcus Corley.
In fact the interest doesn’t lie in if he wins, it’s how emphatically he does so.
There has been a lot of hype surrounding the powerful Argentinian. With a record of 28(27)-1-0 “El Chino” goes into the clash in his native Buenos Aires the heavy favourite and if he puts on a show it will add fuel to the fire that is sending smoke signals towards Amir Khan.
As a fighter Maidana has raw power and an almost mythical knockout record which he fixes his whole style around. When in the ring El Chino is slow in his approach, almost thoughtful while waiting for the opportunity to launch an attack, rather than a constant barrage. Once he gets in you can expect him to throw heavy combination, at times he looks like his hands weigh him down as if they were sculpted from marble and he tends to flail these around his opponents head, more often than not with destructive consequences.
Defence wise he has a decent chin and can take a lot of punches. His sole defeat came against Andre Kotelnik, a rock-solid fighter who is more like a giant lump of granite than anything else. You could put the result down to bad judgment because Maidana out-boxed the Ukrainian and was without question the busier fighter. It’s just that Kotelnik is an incredibly durable fighter who stood up to his punches because he is nigh on impossible to KO.
Saturday’s rival "Chop Chop" Corley is a fighter that has been in the ring with all the modern greats, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Miguel Cotto, Zab Judah, Devon Alexander and lost to them all.
Underestimate Corley at your peril though. Sure the veteran fights off distinctly unimpressive card of 37(22)-13-1, yet only three of his 13 defeats have been by way of KO, having gone the distance with a lot of the top level fighters he’s been in the ring with such as Mayweather, Junior Witter and Judah.
Defensively, Corley knows all the tricks and at 36 years old Chop Chop will be looking to old man it against the sprightly Maidana. He has good head-movement, neat footwork and absorbs a lot of shots but against the elite he does little damage with his own shots.
Not much has been seen of Maidana since his spectacular victory over Victor Ortiz late last year. He pulled out of his next fight against Timothy Bradley Jnr controversially back injury and fought a couple of second tier fighters while he sorted out some manager issues. His stock has risen dramatically in the last year or so though and he is viewed right up there with the division’s best.
This can be seen as the last warm-up for Maidana before taking on a big name, most likely Amir Khan, who turned to Maidana after failing to get Juan Manuel Marquez. What with the Argentinian holding the WBA interim belt and Khan the full version the two would have to meet at some point anyway to unify the WBA title. El Chino has accused Khan of ducking him this week and with Khan’s chin under increasing scrutiny from some fans and pundits, hard-hitting Maidana would provide him with the ultimate test.
Right now though Maidana will be looking no further than Corley and it should be a relatively one-sided bout. Chop Chop will probably set up to be awkward, avoid the big shots from El Chino and try and pick him off. However he won’t be able to stay out the way of the vicious combinations for long and its unlikely Corley will trouble Maidana to much with his own punches.
Corley should be able to cling on for a bit longer than many people expect, but Maidana’s raw power will do for him in the end and he will be looking to do it as emphatically as possible so he can give Khan no option but to face him.
Prediction Maidana fourth-eighth KO
Power, class and youth will come through and Maidana is likely to win with a trademark knockout. That’s not to completely rule out Corely going the distance. If it was a few years ago he would almost certainly push Maidana the full 12 rounds, but a KO defeat to Freddy Hernandez doesn’t suggest he is still that fighter.
Maidana will want to win in style to keep his stock high and the public interested in a face off with a top fighter and should blast Corley away by the middle of the fight.
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