What is Next for Marcos Maidana?
Marcos Maidana is ready for the big time – but is it ready for him? That’s the question that the Argentine fighter has to be asking himself as he tries to find his next fight. The interim WBA junior welterweight champion has dealt with postponements of major fights, potential big-name opponents allegedly ducking him and serious problems with his management in the past year. All of this leaves his career somewhat in limbo as he looks to establish himself as a force within the division and the sport.
Many of the problems for Maidana stemmed from his scheduled fight against Timothy Bradley for the WBO junior welterweight title. The fight was postponed from June 19 to July 17 and eventually cancelled outright. The reason given was that Maidana had suffered a back injury in training that didn’t heal properly, forcing the fight to be called off. However, in an extraordinary open letter last month, Maidana explained that he was never hurt; the fight was called off because he had received a lowball offer that his manager Mario Margossian allegedly accepted without consulting Maidana.
Maidana and Margossian are now involved in a legal battle that promises to be messy and contentious. The fact that Maidana admitted to faking an injury to get out of a fight might be considered to be extremely dangerous to his career. However, many people have sympathized with Maidana; if nothing else, they respect the fact that he admitted that he wasn’t really hurt. It appears that Maidana’s reputation will emerge from the whole affair essentially intact, even if it might have cost him a shot at one of the big names in the division.
So what will happen next for Maidana? He has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Amir Khan for the British fighter’s post-Ramadan fight in late November or December. Khan is currently the “full” WBA junior welterweight champion and he needs to face Maidana at some point down the road in order to retain his title. A fight against Khan is something that has been talked about for some time and has the potential to be an explosive meeting.
Maidana has claimed that Khan is avoiding him, and that Khan’s team (including trainer Freddie Roach) is keeping Khan away from Maidana to protect his suspect chin. Maidana is one of the hardest punchers in the sport of boxing, as evidenced by his record of 28-1 with 27 knockouts. Meanwhile, Khan has been hurt before, including being shocked in a first round knockout at the hands of lightly-regarded but hard-hitting Breidis Prescott in 2008.
However, Roach has said that Khan is far from scared of Maidana and that they think he will be an easy target. The thought is that Maidana is too wild and unpolished for an accomplished and skilled fighter like Khan. That’s a perception that Maidana has been trying to change for years, so far unsuccessfully.
Maidana isn’t the only fighter being considered by Khan as his next opponent. Khan’s promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions has said that Maidana is one of several candidates being considered for Khan’s next bout. Among the other names being tossed around are the winner of the July 31 fight between Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez or current interim WBO lightweight champion Michael Katsidis.
As for Maidana, he’s recently said that he would like to finally get a shot at Bradley, who is returning to the ring on July 17 when he defends his WBO junior welterweight title against hard-hitting Carlos Abregu. No matter where things end up, it looks like there’s a good chance that Maidana will have a big name opponent sometime this year.
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