Maidana ducks Thurman ?

Diego408 wrote:Thurman was going to Knock him out. That was my upset pick of the month. Maidana saw what I saw.

Ali wrote:Definitely seems like they are wary of Thurman's size and power.

Diego408 wrote:Thurman was going to Knock him out. That was my upset pick of the month. Maidana saw what I saw.

Junior welterweight titlist Marcos Maidana (31-3, 28 KOs), coming off a virtual shutout decision loss to Devon Alexander in February, was slated to remain at the welterweight division and face untested Keith Thurman (17-0, 16 KOs) on the Adrien Broner-Vicente Escobedo undercard on July 21. Thurman was somehow approved for an HBO telecast despite zero credentials and a padded record that includes wins against 10 opponents with records of .500 or below. But Maidana saved us the trouble of the ridiculous fight by declining Golden Boy's offer.

Although HBO and Golden Boy talked as though the fight was made, Maidana's adviser, Sebastian Contursi, told ESPN.com that it was not finalized. Contursi said Golden Boy presented Maidana with three options for July: Alfonso Gomez, Shawn Porter and Thurman.

Contursi said they couldn't agree on money for the Gomez fight. He said that although they accepted Porter (for the July 14 Amir Khan-Danny Garcia undercard), Golden Boy told him Porter's side turned down the fight, leaving Maidana with the even more unknown Thurman.

"We accepted [Thurman] in principle, but we never even finalized negotiations," Contursi said. “In fact, we were supposed to fight July 14 in Las Vegas, and out of nothing, we were told it was gonna be on July 21 in Cincinnati. We wonder who might be that interested in seeing that fight take place when Thurman is an unknown fighter but naturally much bigger than Maidana [physically]. Maidana is under contract with [Golden Boy] and Thurman is not, so what is the point of making that fight in the first place?"

(That's easy: Thurman is with powerful adviser Al Haymon, who usually gets what he wants at HBO and Showtime.)

Contursi added: "Even though we admit that Maidana looked bad and lost his last fight, we don't think he should be facing an eight-round [fighter]. Can you think of any other case where a world champion that has earned his name has faced an eight-round fighter?"

So Maidana-Thurman, thankfully, is off. But Maidana's next move is up in the air, and Golden Boy and HBO are stuck trying to make a new fight for Thurman, who never should have been approved to be on the network in the first place.

Ali wrote:Not a flat out duck but kinda shitty, how else is Thurman going to make a name for himself if guys like Maidana won't give him the opportunity ?

flapanther2001 wrote:

Ali wrote:Not a flat out duck but kinda shitty, how else is Thurman going to make a name for himself if guys like Maidana won't give him the opportunity ?

I don't think Maidana has fallen that far down the ladder just yet. Thurman needs to work his way up & also decide at which weight he wants to fight. The fact that he's had so many odd weights in his career prove he's not ready yet.

Ali wrote:

flapanther2001 wrote:

Ali wrote:Not a flat out duck but kinda shitty, how else is Thurman going to make a name for himself if guys like Maidana won't give him the opportunity ?

I don't think Maidana has fallen that far down the ladder just yet. Thurman needs to work his way up & also decide at which weight he wants to fight. The fact that he's had so many odd weights in his career prove he's not ready yet.

It's not like Maidana is a champion riding high.

dbudge wrote:Come on guys, are WEW seriously going to try and label el chino a ducker? Dude has fought anyone and everyone put before him. Maidan a is in a position where he can demand better paydays than fighting guys like Thurman