The Marcos Maidana vs Devon Alexander welterweight bout in St. Louis on Feb. 25 is a classic boxer vs puncher matchup with Alexander taking on the boxer’s role and Maidana the slugger’s. Alexander, a southpaw, will enter the ring with a record of 22-1with 13Kos while Maidana will carry his 31-2, 28Kos record in with him.
Alexander’s only loss came in a poor performance against Timothy Bradley in January 2011 and the fight was stopped after the 10th round due to cuts. He paid for it dearly as it was a Jr. Welterweight unification bout and Alexander lost his WBA and IBF to WBC and WBO titleholder Bradley.
Alexander’s team said their boxer struggled against Bradley because he had a hard time making the 140 lb. weight limit and will perform much better against Maidana at 147 lbs. Trainer Kevin Cunningham said the seven pounds difference will make him a lot stronger and the 25-year-old will have more stamina for this bout.
The 28-year-old Maidana of Argentina likes to force the action whenever he fights and this usually results in exciting bouts. He’s not interested in the scorecards and goes for knockouts each time out. Of course, he sometimes gets caught coming in and he’s been dropped to the canvas a few times because of it. However, his power usually diminishes the longer the fight goes.
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This hurt him in his fight against former champion Amir Khan back in December 2010 as he had Khan staggered in the 10th round, but couldn’t finish him off. He ended up losing the fight by a close unanimous decision. In addition, he couldn’t put Erik Morales away in April of last year and the 34-year-old Mexican was still standing after 12 rounds, with Maidana taking the fight on a close majority decision.
Both of Maidana’s losses, to Khan and Andriy Kotelnik, have been against superior boxers and that’s exactly what Alexander is. Also, Alexander has the hometown advantage here since the fight’s in St. Louis and it’s scheduled for just 10 rounds. However, Alexander seems to struggle against pressure fighters like Maidana who smother him. This is why Bradley was so successful against him, but he did manage to beat Lucas Matthysse of Argentina by split decision despite of the constant pressure by him.
Alexander’s not known as a heavy hitter while Maidana certainly is. Even though Maidana’s been on the canvas a few times in his career he’s still considered to have a pretty reliable chin. It’s going to be interesting to see how Alexander reacts after getting nailed flush by one of the Argentinean’s bombs. Alexander has been dropped just once in his career, which came courtesy of Matthysse, but it was more of a flash knockdown than a case of being hurt.
Maidana likes to engage in slugfests, but Alexander isn’t interested in going toe-to-toe with him, especially at 147 lbs. Alexander is a better technician, but he could be in trouble if he underestimates the power of Maidana. It’s an important fight for each of them as Maidana wants to prove he can beat a more-skilled boxer and Alexander needs a win to vault himself back into title contention at a higher weight level.
Prediction
Look for Maidana to eventually catch Alexander and drop him, but if he can’t finish him off Alexander will take a close decision.
Odds
Sportsbook 5dimes.com has the current odds of an Alexander win at -170 with a Maidana victory posted at +150. Visit 5Dimes.com now to bet on this fight.
Devon Alexander betting • Marcos Maidana betting