Our resident boxing writer Diego Morilla previews the fights you need to follow every week.
San Antonio, Dec. 14
Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana, 12 rounds, WBA welterweight title
The classic rivalry between boxer and puncher couldn’t be more dramatic than in this fight, as Broner (27-0, 22 KO), a crazy-skilled, lightning-fast fighter and one of boxing’s stars in the making faces the ultimate KO artist in Argentina’s Maidana (34-3, 31 KO) in what is shaping up as one of the grudge matches of the year. Broner should take command of the action after another one of his notorious slow starts, but Maidana will be dangerous from bell to bell, and he has more than enough power to turn a fight around and even finish it with every mean-intended punch he’ll throw. And he’ll throw more than a few. If the amount of punches they exchange comes close to the amount of taunting tweets they threw at each other during the long pre-fight buildup, this one could be easily headed into Fight of the Year territory.
What to look for in this fight: Broner will survive a few rocky moments to score a methodical drubbing against one of boxing’s purest KO artist.
