Fighting for the vacant WBA interim super lightweight title, Marcos Maidana bullied and bested Erik Morales but couldn’t bury the Mexican legend as many expected. Maidana v. Morales headlined a night of super fights contested at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. “I never said it was an easy fight”, explained Maidana. “I was expecting a war and that is exactly what happened.”

Morales (51-7) looked calm enough when the opening bell rang but was quickly forced to fight. Maidana (30-2) pushed Morales around the ring and by the middle of the round Morales was a one eyed fighter. In the opening round Maidana did what he does best; apply pressure and let his hands go. Early in the second Morales and Maidana boxed on even with terms until Morales backed to the ropes where Maidana pummeled him with both hands.

Surprisingly, Morales was able to back Maidana up as he came out of the corner firing right hand leads. Through three, Maidana’s size and strength were more than Morales could counter. Morales had his moments in the fourth, just as he had in every round prior, but gave too much ground to the Argentine. Maidana started the fifth as though he intended to end it; however, Morales had plans of his own. Morales stung Maidana with a right cross that put Maidana on his heels.

Morales pursued and raked Maidana with rights to the head and lefts to the body. Maidana never seemed in jeopardy of going down but learned to respect the former three division champion. Maidana regained control of the fight when he pushed Morales around the ring in the sixth. Morales surged late but it was a case of too little, too late. Between rounds Morales sunk onto his stool. Both fighters were fatigued by the seventh and at one point Maidana staggered backwards across the ring.

Morales opened the eighth with a devastating check hook that buckled Maidana’s knees. Morales looked for the knockout but couldn’t muster the strength to drop Maidana. It was Morales’ best round since the fifth. Maidana jumped on Morales to start the ninth and nearly overwhelmed him when Morales stung Maidana with a right and Maidana gave ground. The balance of the round was give and take with momentum swinging to and fro. In the tenth it was Morales’ turn to walk Maidana down.

Maidana was breathing hard though the mouth and seemed content to fight only when pressed. Maidana regrouped between rounds and dominated the action in the eleventh. Maidana’s younger, fresher legs prevailed in an action packed final round. Morales fought like a champion but youth was served. Maidana won by majority decision; 114-114, 116-112 & 116-112.
 

Robert Guerrero boxed and battled his way past Michael Katsidis to capture the vacant WBA and WBO interim lightweight titles. In the first, Katsidis mistakenly moved to his right and into Guerrero’s left hand. Guerrero (29-1-1) took advantage of the mental lapse and lathered Katsidis with left hands and uppercuts. Katsidis (27-4) stood his ground in the second and likely scored a knockdown during an exchange at center ring. Guerrero’s glove touched the mat but referee Russell Mora missed it. Guerrero regrouped late and ended the round strong.

In the third Guerrero worked behind the jab and fired a straight left behind it. Katsidis had trouble getting inside the jab and didn’t have an answer for the left hand. Katsidis applied pressure in the fourth and landed several stiff right hands. Katsidis also ate some lefts for his troubles. Working behind the jab, Guerrero was in charge of the fifth when he stung Katsidis with another straight left. Katsidis wobbled but remained on his feet. Guerrero pursued Katsidis and battered him over the balance of the round. Guerrero boxed beautifully again in the sixth in a round he dominated from bell to bell. At the midpoint of the fight Katsidis was bloodied and bruised but in the fight and he knew it. Katsidis rushed out to meet Guerrero to start the seventh.

The pressure enabled him to get to Guerrero in his best round since the fourth. In the eighth Katsidis picked up where he left off in the seventh. Unfortunately for Katsidis, referee Russell Mora took a point for what appeared to be an accidental low blow. When the action resumed Guerrero retaliated but Mora was shielded and didn’t see it. The men started winging borderline hooks at one another and when Katsidis strayed a bit too low Russell deducted a second point from Katsidis. Undeterred, Katsidis stuck with the body attack and punished Guerrero along the ropes. Just when Katsidis seemed in control of the action Guerrero snapped off an uppercut that stopped the surge. Russell evened things out a bit in the ninth when he took a point from Guerrero for low blows.

Guerrero had been in control of the round to that point. Guerrero controlled the first two minutes of the tenth with his jab but found himself in a brawl with Katsidis when the Aussie picked up the pace over the final 60 seconds. Both men answered the bell to the eleventh wearing the effects of ten hard fought rounds. With both eyes swollen Katsidis had a hard time seeing and ate several straight lefts in a round Guerrero dictated. Guerrero looked possessed to start the twelfth. Left hand after left hand found their mark on Katsidis yet Katsidis wasn’t finished. Katsidis willed himself back into the round and gave as good as he got to close the show. The judges scored the fight for Guerrero 117-108, 118-106 & 118-107. Following the fight Guerrero stated, “I just really feel that you guys haven’t seen the best of Robert Guerrero yet and the best is yet to come.”
 

Nobuhiro Ishida scored three knockdowns inside two minutes and stopped previously undefeated James Kirkland to win by KO. Ishida (23-6-2) landed a short right-left that caught Kirkland and dropped him to his knees for the first knock down of the fight.

When the fight resumed Ishida pursued Kirkland to a corner and landed a straight left to score the second knockdown of the fight. The third and final knockdown came moments later from an Ishida right hand. Referee Joe Cortez waived off the contest at 1:52 of the first over Kirkland’s protests.

Kirkland (27-1) refused to give Ishida his due following the fight and earned the ire of the crowd. Ishida is a former world champion but wasn’t given much of a chance to defeat Kirkland. “I wanted to put on a show for Japan”, said Ishida following the fight.
 

Paulie Malignaggi flicked his jab often enough to defeat defensive minded Jose Miguel Cotto in a ten round welterweight contest. Cotto (32-2-2) knocked Malignaggi off-balance with a right early in the first to set the tone. Malignaggi (29-4) worked in and out behind the jab but got caught by hooks while backing out. Over the second Malignaggi circled left while flicking the jab but struggled to find a rhythm in the round. Cotto’s heavier hands inflicted more damage than Malignaggi’s jab over the early rounds and were the difference through three rounds of the fight.

Malignaggi had a better round in the fourth by planting his feet and landing his right hand with authority. After a fast start to the fifth, Cotto lumbered after Malignaggi for most of the round. His best punch was a head butt that resulted in a small cut near Malignaggi’s left eye. Malignaggi suffered a small cut near his right eye in the sixth and blood trickled from both cuts. Malignaggi found some openings in Cotto’s cross-armed defense to score effectively in the round. Malignaggi’s jab was the best punch of the middle rounds and gave him a lead through seven. Cotto lunged after Malignaggi in the eighth, missing more often than landing.

The fighters finally gave the crowd something to cheer about late in the ninth when Cotto settled against the ropes and Malignaggi flurried to the head and body. Cotto raced out to Malignaggi to start the tenth but was stopped in his tracks by a solid 1-2. Cotto then returned to the ropes where he bobbed and weaved while Malignaggi sat and watched. The crowd got on both men for failing to engage in the round. But, the crowd saved their best for Malignaggi when he celebrated a 99-91, 97-93, 99-91 unanimous decision victory.


Off-Air Undercard Results

Danny Garcia, of Philadelphia, PA, soundly defeated former world champion Nate Campbell over 10 super lightweight rounds. The official scores were 99-91, 98-92 & 100-90. Garcia’s unblemished record improves to 21-0 with 15 KOs while Campbell (33-8-1, 25 KOs) settles into the role of gatekeeper.

Rising cruiserweight Rakhim Chakhkiev (9-0) stopped Harvey Jolly (12-16-1) at 2:18 of the 3rd round to win his ninth fight in nine starts. Chakhkiev represented Russia in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Mikael Zewski (9-0) battled his way to a split decision victory over Clint Coronel (4-2-2) in a six round junior middleweight fight. The scorecards read 60-54 and 59-55 for Zewski and 60-54 for Coronel. Ringside pundits agreed with the first two scorecards.