Quote Originally Posted by p4pking View Post
Quote Originally Posted by fan johnny View Post
I don't think Maidana prepared well for this fight as far has having a fight plan. The only time he showed anything in the fight was when he tried to over power Morales at the beginning of about 5 rounds. He looked amateurish missing a lot of his punches, it looked like he thought he'd just go in there swinging away and catch Morales and it would be over. The rest of the fight, he was either holding on or simply getting out boxed by a savvy old fighter. What got him the win was his work rate. I would not be surprised to see the compubox stats showing a pretty even fight in total connects with Maidana miss a whole lot more.
I don't think Maidana ever has or will have a game plan to fight anyone specifically, the guy is an archetypal slugger. I am very surprised to read that Morales put up such a good showing regardless though, I really didn't think he'd have anything left, need to watch this today. Obviously styles make fights, but I cant imagine this reflects to well on the 140 pound division as a whole considering Maidana has beaten or run close two guys who are supposed to be the elite.
I don't agree with this at all.

First of all Morales is an all time great, one of the best lower weight fighters of all time. Secondly he is only 34, not 40 like Shane Mosley or 46 like Bernard Hopkins.

True he has been in a lot of wars but he's fairly well rested in recent years and is clearly still in excellent physical shape, with still a stellar chin to fight the fight that he did.

Thirdly, even at his worst he has only been blown away by Manny Pacquaio, and Marquez aside who hasnt Manny blown away in recent years?

He's made David Diaz, Oscar, Ricky Hatton, Migel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito all like complete bags of shit over the last couple of years.

I think the weekend showed that Morales still has a lot left, sure he's past his prime, but he's still Morales, he still has a great chin, decent skills and a brilliant boxing brain, as well as being one of the toughest fighters mentally in the whole game.

Finally, Maidana, crude though we know he is, still came through this test. Everyone has been so high on praising Morales that they seem to have ignored or missed the fact that the other man also stood toe to toe with him, traded blow for blow and came back firing every time he was hurt.

If Morales fought a grea fight, then surely Maidana had to as well, and he showed the toughness and no quit attitude that typifies all of his fights.

It may have been all about Eric Morales this weekend but Maidana put on a great showing too imo.

Like most I expect Morales to not have enough speed and legs to cope with a really fast, technical fighter like Khan at this stage, but Maidana isn't that. His game is blood and guts brawling, and for that type of fight Morales is about as tough a challenge as they come.