Maidana vs Thurman: Fight Off, Team Maidana Wants Tune-Up

Marcos Maidana's team has rejected a previously reported July 21 fight with Keith Thurman, which would have been the HBO co-feature to Broner vs Escobedo in Cincinnati, and his manager Sebastian Contursi says they'd like to get him a tune-up fight before moving to something bigger.

Maidana (31-3, 28 KO) may still fight on July 21, but considering that's less than three weeks away, he won't be fighting anyone good. Contursi says Maidana is willing to fight anyone, but that they're trying to look out for him and get him sort of a bounce-back fight, especially since he's currently adjusting to a new training camp out in Oxnard with Robert Garcia, where he's been for about five weeks.

I doubt anyone is particularly upset with Maidana-Thurman being off, since the best you could say about it was that it wasn't quite so terrible as some made out. It was basically a do-or-die shot for Thurman (17-0, 16 KO), a 23-year-old prospect who would have been taking a massive step in competition, even given that he's naturally bigger than Maidana by a good bit. Thurman has shown he can punch against fluff opponents, but that's about it. I'm not saying he's not a real prospect, either -- I think the jury is out on that, and frankly he was going to be skipping about three rungs on the ladder to get to Maidana.

There's currently nothing else set for the undercard in Cincinnati, so this might end up being a lame one-fight version of Boxing After Dark. Not lame because the one fight stinks, just lame because all one-fight cards are lame.