Roundup by Dan Rafael of ESPN
Maidana, 28, of Argentina, was supposed to defend his 140-pound belt (one of those cheap WBA regular jobbies that was handed to him even though Amir Khan, who beat Maidana in December, owns the legit title) on Aug. 27 against Robert Guerrero in an HBO main event. However, Guerrero suffered a severe shoulder injury and the card was cancelled. Rather than waste more than two months of training, Maidana was lined up for this hometown defense against Petrov, a 28-year-old Russian who has fought most of his career in Spain. He had been fighting mostly six- and eight-round bouts and went into the ring against Maidana quite untested at the world class level. Maidana, one of boxing’s most consistently exciting fighters and biggest punchers, dominated. He was clearly stronger and used his power to bat Petrov around.
Maidana was credited with a knockdown moments before the end of the first round when Petrov touch his glove to the canvas. He scored a second knockdown early in the fourth round when he connected with a flush right hand that dropped Petrov to his knees. With about 30 seconds left in the fourth round, Maidana dropped him again with a right hand and a left hook to the body. Again, Petrov, whose left eye was swelling, dropped to his knees. Although Petrov beat the count, referee Uriel Aguilera did not like how he looked and stopped the mismatch, Petrov saw his 13 fight winning streak come to an end while Maidana, who rebounded from his loss to Khan to outpoint Erik Morales in April in a sensational fight, won his second bout in a row.
Maidana would like to fight again before the end of the year and would love a rematch with Khan (which won’t happen because Khan is scheduled against Lamont Peterson on Dec. 10) or Morales. How about a rematch with Victor Ortiz, whom Maidana made quit in the sixth round of a terrific fight in 2009?