all this talk of whether amir khan can improve his defense with his new trainer got me thinking about marcos maidana, who fought jesus soto-karass last saturday on the undercard of canelo alvarez-josecito lopez, in what many saw as the fight of the night.

maidana showed some much improved boxing skills, especially his jab, head movement and ability to slip punches. of course 'much improved' is relative, and in maidana's case almost any display of skill would be an improvement based on the brawling fan-friendly style he's know for. also, it's important to take into account who maidana was fighting. It's not hard to look like a good boxer against soto-karass. often, soto-karass wasn't able to make maidana pay for the often clumsy display of boxing fundamentals.

it makes sense that maidana would make this adjustment moving up to welter weight, where his power will probably not be as effective. however, i wonder if this new emphasis on boxing may ultimately prove to be futile. I think a decent welterweight with decent fundamentals would've picked apart maidana with relative ease last saturday. the boxing ring is a tough place to learn on the job.

unless maidana is able to improve his boxing skills significantly by the time he faces an opponent with even average boxing skills, i think he'll get thoroughly outclassed while attempting to box, then will revert back to his natural instincts and look to make it a war. then the question is not only will he be able to catch his opponent and force him into a brawl, but will his power be effective enough at welterweight.

i see a tough road ahead for him at welterweight. but either way i wish him the best and look forward to finding out!