Marcos Maidana

Marcos René Maidana (born 17 July 1983) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2011 to 2012, and the WBA (Regular) welterweight title from 2013 to 2014. A versatile brawler in the ring, Maidana was well known for his formidable punching power, and was never stopped in any of his five losses.

Maidana started his career in 2004 before turning 21 years old. He fought his first 18 fights in his native Argentina over two years, winning all, including 17 via stoppage. On his 18th bout, he won the WBA Fedelatin super lightweight title. Over the next year, Maidana only fought once in Argentina, five times in Germany and once in Panama. At the end of 2008, Maidana had a professional record of 25–0, with 24 stoppages.

On 2 February 2009, Maidana challenged for his first world title, the WBA super lightweight championship against Andreas Kotelnik at the StadtHalle in Rostock, Germany. Kotelnik beat Maidana via controversial split decision, with the judges scoring the fight 115–114, 113–115, and 115–113 in Kotelnik's favor. Maidana was credited with landing 342 of 1241 punches thrown (28%), with 259 of them being power punches and Kotelnik was more accurate in landing 229 of his 655 thrown (35%).

Maidana's first fight in the United States was against Victor Ortíz, which took place on June 27, 2009, for the Interim WBA super lightweight title. Ortiz entered the fight with an eight-fight knockout streak. Both Ortiz and Maidana were knocked down in the first round. Ortiz knocked Maidana to the canvas twice in the second round. Ortiz suffered a cut in the fifth round and was knocked down in the sixth. The fight was stopped when the ringside physician would not let Ortiz continue to fight. Many in the boxing media, including HBO, chastised Ortiz for not wanting to continue in the fight.

After his fight with Ortiz, it was rumoured that Maidana would face British boxer, and WBA super lightweight champion, Amir Khan, who won the title after defeating Andreas Kotelnik. However, Khan opted for Paulie Malignaggi as his next opponent. As a result, Maidana was scheduled to fight on 27 March 2010, against Victor Cayo, whose record, at that time, was 24–0 with 75% of victories coming by way of knockout. Maidana knocked out the undefeated Cayo in the sixth round to retain his interim WBA super lightweight title and improve his record to 28–1, with 27 knockouts.

After failing to secure a fight with Timothy Bradley, Maidana fought and defeated DeMarcus Corley in August 2010. Despite knocking Corley down in the seventh round, Maidana had to go the distance for only the third time in his career, eventually securing the victory via unanimous decision 117–110, 117–110, and 115–112. Even with the knockdown, many believed the fight was close. By round 11, Maidana was tired and both fighters traded in the final round.

Before his fight with Corley, Maidana accused Khan and trainer Freddie Roach of "hypocrisy" and called out Khan in an interview:

I'll go to Khan's home soil to take the other portion of the WBA title, which belongs to me ... They say they want me next when the cameras and mics are on. But when it comes to make the fight for real, Roach begs Golden Boy Promotions to keep Khan away from me.