The hallmarks of boxer Marcos Maidana's career has been him knocking people down.
Maidana, who fights Devon Alexander in a 10-round welterweight coming-out-party fight at Scottrade Center on Saturday, has built his career on brute force. Of his 31 wins in the ring, 28 have been by knockout, and only one of his first 25 fights went the distance. That was to some extent a continuation of his amateur career. Where Maidana is, fists usually fly and the first step is forward. The 29-year-old has been involved in some of the best fights of the past few years, including slugfests with Victor Ortiz in 2009 and Amir Khan in 2010.
"Most of the time I got knockouts in my amateur fights," Maidana said through an interpreter this week after a quick workout at the Cherokee Recreation Center near downtown. "I always kept my style. Sometimes my opponents were inactive for a few seconds that I took advantage of." He was less modest before the Khan fight, when he said, "It seems I was born with the gift of knocking people out."
Three of his past four fights have gone the distance, and while he's won three of them, his knockout rate has leveled off. Still, the threat is there, and as Maidana (31-2) moves up, like Alexander (22-1, 13 KOs) from 140 to 147 pounds, it could be even more pronounced.
"Maidana is a big puncher no matter what weight he's at," said Kevin Cunningham, Alexander's trainer.
Maidana started fighting when he was 15 in his hometown of Margarita, Argentina. He'd had a few fights in the street and when a local trainer started organizing a tournament, he thought he'd give it a shot. He was the national amateur champion in Argentina in 2002 and 2003, and a quarterfinalist at the world championships in 2003. After he failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics, he turned pro. His first fight was a first-round knockout. He kept going from there. After going as far as he could in Argentina, his career took him to Germany before finally landing in America in 2009.
Maidana, who was given the nickname El Chino growing up because his neighbors thought he looked Chinese, won his first 25 fights before losing to Andriy Kotelnik in February of 2009. (Eighteen months later, Alexander would beat Kotelnik to retain his WBC and IBF belts.) Maidana got his first title in November 2009, beating Victor Ortiz for the WBA interim super lightweight title.
In that fight, Maidana was knocked down three times, once in the first round and twice in the second, but knocked Ortiz down twice, in the first and the sixth rounds, before winning a sixth-round TKO. He defended that title three times, including once against DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley, another fighter Alexander had beaten.
In December 2010, he faced Amir Khan in what turned out to be another brawl. Khan won a 12-round decision, though the bout was named the 2010 fight of year by the Boxing Writers Association of America and Sports Illustrated. Maidana got knocked down in the first round, but the two kept going toe-to-toe (or elbow; Maidana was penalized for elbowing Khan as they broke a clinch) and Maidana left Khan wobbly in the 10th (which Maidana won 10-8 on all three cards), but couldn't finish the deal off. Khan won a unanimous decision. "For pretty much every moment of the fight, (Maidana) seemed intent on knocking Khan out," wrote SI.
That fight had been for the WBA light welterweight title, and while Maidana didn't get it there, he would get it. Khan lost his belt to Lamont Peterson, who became the WBA Super World light welterweight champ, and in September, Maidana beat Petr Petrov for the WBA title.
Maidana is keeping that belt regardless of what happens Saturday. He's moving up in weight for this fight, so his 140-pound belt remains his.
"I wanted to try myself here," he said.
The long path Maidana has taken here has, curiously, dropped him in the footsteps of another Argentine, Lucas Matthysse. In Alexander's last fight, he beat Matthysse in a split decision at the Family Arena last June. Maidana and Matthysse often crossed paths in the amateurs in Argentina, with Maidana taking three of four meetings. (The fourth was a draw.) Now, he gets a shot at Alexander, and it's not so much about defending Argentina as it is one-upping an old rival.
"I wouldn't mind send a message to Matthysse that I'm better than him," he said
