Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime
On Saturday, December 14, 2013, live from the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX, Adrien “The Problem” Broner tries to cap off an impressive 2013 with a win over hard-hitting Argentine, Marcos “El Chino” Maidana.
The bout—which is the headlining fight of Golden Boy’s quadruple header on Showtime—is an enticing matchup for fight fans because unlike Paulie Malignaggi, Maidana actually packs a serious punch.
Can Broner take a punch?
It’s the question many of us went into 2013 looking to have answered. Little did we know that it would take almost a full year to get an answer.
We’ve seen Broner take the best from Gavin Rees and Malignaggi, but now we get to get to see what he does if he’s cracked by a power puncher.
Broner is not a boxer in the classic sense. Often times he elects to stay in one place and employ more upper body movement to defend against his opponents attack.
He’s never been visibly hurt, but he has been hit flush numerous times in various fights.
And although he does his best to convince folks that he’s the second coming of “Money Mayweather,” the biggest similarity between the two in the ring is their Philly shell defense–something Broner doesn’t do a great job of using.
It remains to be seen if a stationary style will work against a slugger with underrated boxing ability like Maidana.
In Maidana, we get a tough fighter with an impressive will to compete and win.
Over his career, we’ve seen “Chino” take some hellacious shots from the likes of Victor Ortiz, Amir Khan and Josesito Lopez.
In each of those fights Maidana proved that even if he’s down, you should never count him out.
Maidana seems to always have a trick up his sleeve, which was never more evident then when he burst onto the scene against the then highly regarded up-and-comer, Ortiz.
A win versus Broner would send him into a different stratosphere and set him up for the biggest bouts in boxing.
Tale of the Tape
Photo by Showtime Sports
Marcos Maidana boasts an impressive 83.78 knockout percentage, crumbling 31 of his 37 opponents before the final bell.
He is six years older than Adrien Broner and has certainly fought the better opposition in his professional career.
At only 23 years of age, Broner is one of boxing’s hottest commodities. His outside the ring antics raise as many eyebrows—if not more—than his in the ring accomplishments, but make no mistake about it, the kid can fight.
He’s already a three-time world champion having collected the WBO Super Featherweight, WBC Lightweight and WBA Welterweight titles.
Broner enjoys a half an inch reach advantage and is only half an inch shorter than Maidana.
Neither man will be star struck once the bell rings to start the first round because they’ve both been in big fights before, but it will be interesting to see who can impose their style from the get go.
Main Storylines
While Adrien Broner is all too eager to tell us how great he is, many people would rather see him prove it in the ring.
By jumping up from 135 to 147 pounds this past June, many folks thought that Broner would run over the feather-fisted Paulie Malignaggi and back up some of the trash talk that has made him famous.
Unfortunately for Broner, his performance against Malignaggi was anything but dominant and it left boxing heads with more questions than answers.
Broner was hit a bit too easily and moving up in weight, he lacked the pop on his own punches to really hurt the Brooklyn veteran.
In the end, Broner won a split decision to claim the WBA title, but not everyone was impressed.
For Marcos Maidana, this bout represents another chance to break free from contender status and really solidify his presence in boxing.
He fell short of his goal in bouts against Devon Alexander and Amir Khan, but a win against Broner can make those fights seem like distant memories.
If Maidana faces adversity, will he respond the way a true champion does?
In the past, the answer has been yes–sometimes with some help from his corner–and to have a chance against Broner, Chino must be ready and willing to fight back when he is at his lowest point.
Strengths for Each Man
Photo by Naoki Fukada
Marcos Maidana
Marcos Maidana’s greatest asset is his power. He is undoubtedly the strongest puncher that Adrien Broner has ever faced.
Maidana must make Broner feel that power early and gain his respect. Maidana must be willing to throw punches even if he doesn’t find Broner to be an easy target.
If Maidana makes the confident Broner feel his power early on in the fight and can get Broner on the move and out of his rhythm, he must make sure to cut off the ring in an effective way as well as use the boxing ability he has honed under the tutelage of Robert Garcia.
Adrien Broner
After you get through all of the showboating and tough talking that Adrien Broner does, you have to appreciate his natural ability. Out of those abilities, his accuracy is one of his most impressive attributes.
In his bout versus Antonio DeMarco, Broner landed an impressive 53 percent of his total punches through eight rounds, as well 58 percent of his power punches.
The most impressive round was the eighth and final one in which Broner landed 38 of 50 punches totaling a 76 connect percentage.
Broner also defended well in that fight, stifling DeMarco’s offense all night. Against Maidana, Broner will have to be as sharp as he was against DeMarco.
If Broner finds that he is able to handle Maidana’s power well, he may opt to stay in the pocket and try to measure Maidana from a short distance. This could lead to another gaudy connect percentage for “The Problem.”
Weaknesses for Each Man
Photo by Naoki Fukada
Marcos Maidana
No one can argue that Marcos Maidana is a tough customer. But, one issue he has is that he overtly shows when he’s hurt.
Against Josesito Lopez, Maidana took a shot on the hip in the second round and looked ready to call it a day a round later.
According to his trainer Robert Garcia—in an interview with The Boxing Channel TV—Maidana had to be forced to forget about the pain, suck it up and go out and try to pressure Lopez.
In that bout, Maidana was able to collect himself and win the bout in impressive fashion.
Unlike Lopez, if Broner sees that Maidana is hurt, he will take advantage and tee off on the Argentine and could possibly even stop him.
Adrien Broner
Hubris–or excessive self-pride–has been the downfall of many men. Just when someone thinks they are unstoppable, a humbling ass whooping can often follow.
To avoid this fate, Adrien Broner must not make the same mistakes he did against Paulie Malignaggi. Standing in the pocket and taking flush punches from Maidana will taste a lot different than they did against Malignaggi.
If Broner buys into his own hype and simply expects to beat Maidana without upping his game or tweaking his style, he may be in for a rude awakening.
At the very least, it’ll be interesting to see if Broner’s defensive “shell” still has as many cracks in it as it did last time he was in the ring.
The Winner and Why
Photo by Naoki Fukada
According to a press release by Box Nation, Broner was his normal, confident self in the build up to the fight this week, saying “Maidana has to show me – he has to make me respect his power and his boxing skills.”
Broner hit the nail on the head. Maidana has to show everyone that he can do something that others have failed to do.
The rugged Argentine must throw punches in bunches from different angles. If Broner does indeed move more than usual, Maidana must cut off the ring as well–instead of simply plodding forward sloppily trying to land power shots.
Maidana must make Broner work harder than he ever has and when the openings arise, he must land meaningful punches.
Having laid out what Maidana must do, I must say that I find it hard to believe that he’ll be able to do it.
Broner is slick and at the end of the day I believe he is smart enough to know that if he’s in the ring with a true banger, he must not only use his athleticism, but also his boxing IQ he box more fluidly. In other words, he must be ready to use his legs.
Broner will be fully prepared for what he has acknowledged as the biggest fight of his career to date.
If Broner is truly a special fighter like many think he is, he can turn this fight into target practice like he did against Antonio DeMarco and silence the vast majority of his critics.
Expect Broner to defeat a game Maidana by convincing decision.
