Maidana-Corley - Round by Round

As a huge Marcos Maidana fan, I was pretty distressed to hear about what some have reported to be an uncomfortably close decision win last Saturday night over the faded DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley. Since the fight wasn't on any U.S. TV outlet that I'm aware of, and due to the fact that I was at a fantasy football draft at the time, I didn't watch the fight live. But Dan Rafael was kind enough to link to the entire fight on YouTube via his twitter page, so I figured I'd watch the fight and RBR it here just to see if it was as close as some people have suggested. 

Pre-Fight -- Looks like a pretty solid crowd, probably 10,000+. Chop Chop has come out in an Argentinian soccer jersey of some sort. I doubt that's going to win over too many folks in Chino's home country, but hey, you can't blame him for trying. To his credit, he looks relaxed and ready to fight. 

Marcos is all business with his ring walk, though his folks are proudly displaying his WBA superinterim provisional emerald belt. Hey, it IS a lovely trinket. Maidana looks kind of soft in there, but I doubt it matters a ton. The crowd chants "Chino," and here we go:

Round 1:

Both men paw with the jab. Maidana with a glancing right hand that knocks Corley off balance. A wild looping right by Maidana misses. Another wild right misses and Corley comes forward with a few jabs that are off the mark. Maidana lands a half-hearted jab, and he looks a little sluggish in there. Both guys flick jabs, but they aren't landing. Chop Chop misses badly with a left hook. Corley misses and Maidana lands a decent straight right. Thudding body shot from Maidana lands. Corley to the body now. Another glancing right hand from Maidana. Corley with a decent straight left. Maidana misses wildly with a right hook and Corley gets a little shot in. Corley with a flurry at the bell, and I think he took the round there, because neither man did much otherwise.

10-9 Corley.

Round 2:

Both men come out more aggressively in this round, and Corley slaps Maidana with a right hand. Now Maidana works the body and lands a couple of decent shots.Stiff jab by Maidana, but the right hand follow doesn't connect. Another slapping right hand from Chop Chop, who looks more like Slap Slap so far.  AND NOW A BIG RIGHT HAND BY MAIDANA SENDS CORLEY BACK! Maidana jumps on him, but Corley seems to be ok. Marcos to the body and then a left hook, now a big shot to the body sends Corley back.Corley now with Maidana against the ropes and throws some shots, but Marcos gets away. GOOD straight left by Corley moves Maidana a bit. Now Marcos paws the jab with no effect. A shot to the body, and then one to the back of the head by Maidana. Marcos takes the round.

10-9 Maidana, 19-19

Round 3:

The TV broadcast has Round 2 for Corley as well, so it is 20-18 Corley on their card. I don't see what he did to win Round 2, but hey, this is something you should know. 

Oh boy...Maidana is ALREADY looking a bit winded between rounds. 

On with the action. Maidana just looking to load up on the right hand, but he's not found the range other than that one shot in the middle of the 2nd. Maidana with a weird sorta-uppercut that doesn't land at all. And now he lands a solid body shot that gets Corley's attention. A decent right hand and a left and Corley wobbles a bit! Maidana swinging aggressively but not landing much, and Corley seems to be just fine. Maidana with a thudding right hook and that one looked good! Corley really not doing much this round...and just as I type that, he sticks a decent right hand into Marco's midsection. Now there's a clash of heads near the bell, and Maidana's got a little cut over his right eye. It's properly ruled accidental. Anyhow, Maidana round.

10-9 Maidana, 29-28 Maidana.  

Round 4: 

Maidana comes out looking a bit cranky after being on the receiving end of that head butt and promptly dishes out a SOLID rabbit punch to Corley! Both men just swinging wildly and the ref can't even get in there to warn Maidana! Now he finally gets to Marcos and warns him for that shot. Maidana clearly fighting with bad intentions now, but Corley takes advantage of that aggressiveness a bit and pops him with some jabs. Now they are on the ropes, and while both men are swinging looping shots, few, if any, are landing. Now this is becoming a clinch-fest....getting pretty ugly, frankly. SNEAKY right hook from Corley shows you that he's been in this business for a while. And he lands it again! Now they get back to the ropes and Corley lands a decent shot, but his momentum carries him to the point where Maidana is directly behind him...and Maidana wings a few shots to the back of the head! Boy this has gotten dirty! Now Corley has Maidana in a headlock! WTF? This ref is pretty awful. Maidana lands a couple of decent body shots, and the round comes to a close. Close Maidana round. 

10-9 Maidana, 39-37 Maidana

Round 5:

Solid right hand by Maidana to open the round. Both men struggling to find the other; Corley with a lazy right hand. Maidana comes in, misses, and gets popped with a right hand for his trouble. Maidana lands a right hook and Corley is a bit staggered! He's holding on to Maidana! But he doesn't appear badly hurt. Good shot from Corley late, but I score it for Maidana. With that said, he looks flat, a bit tired, and quite sloppy so far.

10-9 Maidana, 49-46 Maidana

Round 6:

TV announcers have it 49-47 Corley. I'm a bit puzzled by that. 

We're settling into a pretty steady pace: Marcos stalks, with a lazy jab thrown just in the hopes that it blinds Corley long enough for him to smash him with a right hand, while Corley evades and throws hooks and straight lefts that don't land. I can see how you might have scored a round or two more than me for Corley on workrate, though, and frankly, he looks to be the better conditioned fighter as well. This is turning more and more boring by the second. Nothing significant from either man for about a minute now and MAIDANA WITH A BIG LEFT UPPERCUT AND CORLEY IS HURT!!! HE'S ON THE ROPES AND HOLDING ON! AND A HUGE RIGHT HAND AT THE BELL FROM MAIDANA! ROACH AND KHAN CRINGE FROM ANOTHER CONTINENT! Big Maidana round!

10-9 Maidana, 59-55 Maidana

Round 7:

Maidana coming out looking for the kill with chopping hooks! But he hasn't landed, and now he holds and throws shots to the body until the ref breaks them up. AND THERE'S A MONSTER RIGHT HAND AND CORLEY IS HOLDING ON TO MAIDANA AND THEN GOES DOWN!! He's on one knee though and looks to be ok... and now he's up. Maidana jumps on him but doesn't land anything big...Chino thinks he's got him though and is swinging wildly, trying to take him out! AND ANOTHER RIGHT HAND AND CORLEY IS WOBBLING AROUND THE RING WITH 30 SECONDS TO GO! Now Maidana just throws Corley to the canvas! He did him a favor there, because that's going to get Corley out of the round! Huge round for Maidana though!

10-8 Maidana, 69-63 Maidana

Round 8:

Not much action to start here...Maidana now looks a bit tired. Corley with a decent right hand, and the ref is in to break them up. Now Maidana with another shot to the back of the head, and he's doing that quite a bit. He gets warned again, but frankly he'd have lost a point were I the ref. Now Corley with a decent left hand. Good left to the body by Corley. Corley with an overhand right, and Corley puts Maidana back in the headlock! The bell rings, and Corley takes it. 

10-9 Corley, 78-73 Maidana. 

Round 9:

Good right to the body by Maidana that may have been low. Corley trying to jab and move without success. Maidana extremely flat footed and misses badly with a wild hook. Corley with a decent left hand. Maidana starting to look REALLY tired now. Did he not take Corley seriously in training? Maybe just ring rust? Corley with a good right hand! Now Maidana lands and Corley holds on! Corley now with a good left hook! Corley takes the round.

10-9 Corley, 87-83 Maidana. 

Round 10

Not much early...Good left hand by Corley...another CRISP left hand by Corley! Maidana looks exhausted! Corley swings a wild left hand, looking to take Maidana out but missing badly. BIG LEFT HAND BY CORLEY! That's his best punch of the night! Maidana looks unfazed and throws back, but he is out of gas, folks. That shot does seem to have woken him a bit and he lands a right hand. Corley with a chopping left hook. Now they're swinging wildly, but Corley seems to be landing the better shots! The bell sounds and Corley has continued his comeback from that Round 7 knockdown. 

10-9 Corley, 96-93 Maidana

Round 11

TV has it 96-96. Again, I really don't get that score. 

Maidana comes out swinging and he may have gotten his second wind. Good right hook from Maidana. A thudding body shot and the momentum is back with Chino. Now Corley snaps back Maidana's head with a jab. Corley with a low blow, then a left hook that lands, and the ref warns him on the low blow. Now Maidana's milking that low blow for some extra time, so maybe that second wind was an illusion. He takes about 30 seconds, and the action resumes. NOW MAIDANA WITH A  LOW BLOW AND CORLEY IS DOWN! Corley doesn't seem hurt, but he's angling for a point to be taken away. Sorry, Chop, you're in Argentina, my friend. Corley with a left hand. Maidana is really tired and CORLEY LANDS SOME NICE SHOTS! Maidana is totally out of gas! The bell sounds, and Corley wins another round. 

10-9 Corley, 105-103 Maidana 

Round 12:

Not a ton of urgency in Maidana's corner; I think they know that as long as Maidana is standing, he's going to get the decision. Still, he's faded BADLY down the stretch here and could really use a big KO finish.  Let's go to the last round.

TV sees it 106-105 Corley. 

Corley comes out swinging big time! Not landing much, but showing that he wants it! Now here comes Maidana! The crowd trying to spur him on! Corley lands a left hook! Maidana just has nothing left! He's missing badly! Maidana lands another low shot and he's EXCEEDINGLY lucky that no points have been taken away! NOW THEY"RE TRADING AND MAIDANA'S LANDING SOME! But now MAIDANA WITH ANOTHER BLATANT RABBIT PUNCH! THE REF IGNORES IT AND THE BELL SOUNDS! MAIDANA THROWS WAY AFTER THE BELL! 

10-9 Corley. 

My score: 114-113 MAIDANA. 

Official scores of 117-110 (twice) are really pretty wide, while 115-112 Maidana is certainly reasonable. I could see this 114-113 for either fighter, honestly though.  

Wow. Maidana was soft coming into this fight, and it showed. His conditioning stunk. He had the fight completely under control after the big Round 7 knockdown, but had nothing left after that. His punches had no pop whatsoever and Corley was able to get to him with relative ease down the stretch. Both guys fought dirty at times, but Maidana seemed to be the worse of the two, and outside of Argentina, he gets a point (or 2) deducted and loses the fight. 

In sum, it was a rough night for Maidana. He'd better get in much better shape to have a chance to beat Amir Khan, because Khan is going to be on his bike all night and Marcos is going to have to chase him to have a shot to land a big knockout punch. 

Hope you enjoyed.