Moments ago, inside of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Argentina’s Marcos Maidana was given the fight of his life by proven warrior Erik Morales. It was a back and forth fight, one in which Maidana was very fortunate to have won.
In the first round you could see that Morales needed to adapt to Maidana’s brute strength and power as he offered very little firepower of his own while eating a few flush shots. For the most part Morales was bullied around the ring and seemed content on surviving.
In rounds two and three Morales began to show signs of life as he opened up offensively and tagged Maidana with some rights. Still, Maidana would often pin ‘El Terrible’ against the ropes and hammer away with thudding shots of his own, recapturing the momentum whenever necessary.
The fourth was awkward as Maidana continued his flailing ways and was warned for apparently hitting Morales low along the ropes. Maidana controlled the round and although he was far from pretty style-wise his sheer aggression was carrying the day.
The fifth was wild as Maidana came out guns blazing. Showing true grit, Morales would dig down and began catching Maidana to the crowd’s delight. Maidana absorbed some more blow and you could see him breathing heavily with about a minute left. The round ended with each man offering up flurries in the best stanza of the fight and the first round that Morales appeared to grab.
The sixth was also full of drama as Morales dug into his bag of tricks and began timing Maidana with stout right hands. In the final seconds Maidana pushed forward like a bull and appeared to stun Morales repeatedly with his right hand but the proud Tijuana fighter answered with a piercing uppercut and follow up flurry that had the crowd on their feet.
Things seemed to slow a bit in the seventh but their was high drama in the eighth as Morales had his best moments and appeared to have Maidana out of his feet on several occasions. Maidana seemed shocked at just how resilient and rough Morales was and realized the fight was beginning to slip away from him.
Knowing that he needed to do something dramatic to turn the tide of the fight, Maidana came out like a bat out of hell in the ninth and began butchering Morales. Erik made a valiant stand but he was tiring and had little to offer in the final seconds, surrendering the round clearly.
Morales fought much better in the tenth and insiders at ringside seemed to have him with a slight edge heading into the final two rounds.
The crowd began chanting Morales’ name in the eleventh but it was Maidana who was coming on strong. But just as it seemed like Maidana was in control, he would retreat to one of the corners, visibly tired, as Morales again had signs of life. Maidana did step it up a notch in the final seconds and appeared to win the frame.
In between rounds Maidana’s corner was screaming at him to finish strong and he was willing, applying serious pressure early in the twelfth. Showing a chin of steel, Morales ate some bombs in this round but was sure to get in his own licks. Morales was too tired to really mount any rallies as Maidana was in full control.
Both men were raised in the air as everyone awaited the decision. Scores of 116-112 and 114-114 were read in favor of Maidana to the crowd’s disapproval. Maidana and his team erupted in celebration, realizing that they had avoided a near nightmare.
After the fight Maidana told HBO’s Max Kellerman that it was a close fight but that he ‘came to win’ and did enough late to seal the deal. Maidana also pointed to Morales’ technique and velocity and two reasons for him having such a hard night.
With the defeat Morales suffered his seventh loss but seemed to take it well. He told Kellerman that he felt he won the fight because he landed the better punches.
In closing, Morales said that he fights for the people and would love a rematch.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
