The match up between the ?Riverside Rocky? Josesito Lopez and Marcos Maidana, set for Saturday at the Stub Hib Center in Carson, California as the main event of a Showtime televised fight card.
Much like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed did just before the end credits, when both fighters went for a money punch right out of the gate, many pundits and fans alike believe this weekends match up at 147 features two fighters who will come in with bad intentions.
The co-main also features a heavy hitter in Alfredo Angulo taking on slickster southpaw Cuban Erislandy Lara.
Hey, enough of the small talk, Creed rang that bell already!
POWER
This is obviously the most important detail going in to this match up where there are fireworks all but guaranteed between the So Cal fighter and the Argentine Maidana.
Photo: Gene Blevins ? Hoganphotos
Lopez, (30-5, 18KO) hasn?t fought since his one sided TKO loss to middleweight Saul ?Kid Cinnamon? Alvarez last September, but just prior to that, he chin-checked the boxing world by fracturing the jaw of former world champion Victor Ortiz in a fight that he was supposed to lose as Ortiz was expected to face Alvarez on Mexican Independence Day 2012.
Maidana on the other hand has a high KO rate as 30 of his 33 of his wins have come by knockout with his past two opponents lasting only 11 of 24 scheduled rounds.
Most would obviously lean toward Maidana as the favorite in the power department, however, this writer (and hopefully other 3MR staff) isn?t drinking the ?Maidana KO? cool-aide.
In my eyes, in this case, I?m all about the ?what have you done for me lately?.
?Riverside Rock? is only a fight removed from his multiple-bone jaw fracturing knockout over Victor Ortiz, where Lopez valiantly poured it on while trading in the pocket with Ortiz, who was throwing full welterweight punches at Lopez, who had just come up from 140 in a fight I covered live at the Staples Center last June.
Maidana, on the other hand, is riding a two-fight knockout streak but his last KO came from a 13-2, unheralded opponent in his homeland of Argentina, and on the same card as Lopez-Alvarez, Maidana fought hard-nosed veteran Jesus Soto Karass in a foul plagued but fan fight also covered ringside by 3MR in which Maidana was able to knockdown Karass in round 7 but the stop came in the 8th via the referee had seen enough, thus the TKO.
Turning back the clock, Maidana?s last true knockout over a significant opponent was more than three years ago in March 2010, a sixth round two-knockdown win over Victor Cayo.
This writer is going with the gut and picking the Rock to have the power advantage come fight night.
POWER- LOPEZ
STAMINA
Just as important as the power column is in this fight, the stamina issue will be one worth watching. If the leather flies as often and stunning as most believe it will, well, it will turn into a battle of attrition with a ?last man standing? type feel.
Maidana went the distance every time he stepped up in competition with his bouts with Erik Morales, Amir Khan and Devon Alxander, (with two of those fights 12-round championship bouts) and blew out the opponents he was supposed to blow out, while Lopez fought valiantly against Alvarez in what was a referee stop and not a KO loss, and Lopez has only two career 12 round fights to his credit, the Ortiz jaw-breaker stopped after nine rounds and the blowout loss that went only five frames last September.
Most expect a lot of trading, which could lead to an early night and nite-nite for one fighter. However, if the fight reaches the midway point and the championship rounds 9-12, (as the WBA is sticking their nose in this bout for their interim title in the event Alvarez relinquishes the title he won from Austin Trout in April) Maidana will hold the cards in being able to handle a late-round fight.
STAMINA- MAIDANA
HEART
Ah, why did we have to go here, folks???
We all know both Lopez and Maidana pack plenty of ?corazon?, but against each other, its going to come down to who has more of the most critical piece of the human anatomy.
Lopez has battled back, been knocked down only to rally and win, had the umph? needed to stay on top of Ortiz when he had him hurt in the jaw-breaker fight and didn?t stop getting off the canvas against ?Kid Cinnamon?.
Etched into the minds of all hardcore fans is the image of Maidana in felled in the first round and in obvious agony from a body shot thrown by Khan in their December 2010 fight, only to rise to beat the 8 and go on to fight a spirited UD loss that could have been scored tighter than it was.
So who has mas? Corazon?
Hey, 3MR doesn?t know, and neither do you! That?s why 3MR will be covering the event live and you, the fan will be tuning in to Showtime Saturday night.
HEART- ????
So there you have it folks, 3MR has it a split-draw as this fight is a virtual pick-em? which will hopefully live up to recent slugfests in Carson going back to Rios-Alvarado I and more recently Timothy Bradley-Ruslan Provodnikov.
Also watch out for the junior-middle tussle between Angulo and Lara, a great prelude to the Maidana-Lopez bout.
