Marcos Maidana could be facing an uphill climb in more ways than one when he meets former WBC/IBF junior welterweight titleholder Devon Alexander in a welterweight clash at the Scottrade Center in Alexander’s hometown of St. Louis, Mo.
Not only will Maidana (31-2, 28 knockouts) be rising in weight, but he’ll also be meeting a man in Alexander (22-1, 13 KOs) who is both a southpaw as well as a boxer-puncher — attributes that have caused problems for the Argentinian in the past.
It doesn’t help that Maidana’s own countryman, Lucas Matthysse, whom Alexander defeated by disputed split-decision in June, thinks of him as “ordinary.”
“In essence, yes, I am better than him. It’s very simple with Marcos,” Matthysse told RingTV.com prior to the Alexander fight. “There’s no doubt that he’s a very big puncher. But his style of boxing is not classic. It’s ordinary.”
“Maybe he’s right. Maybe Matthysse is better than me,” said Maidana (31-2, 28 KOs). “But I will do my best, and I will try my best always.”
Going in with a record of 25-0, Maidana suffered the first loss of his career by split-decision to Andriy Kotelnik in February of 2009. His only other loss was a unanimous decision against Amir Khan in December of 2010, in which Maidana had to rise from a first-round knockdown.
