Maidana to return in 2016, possibly at junior middweight

Marcos Maidana hasn't fought in the last year since losing last September's rematch with Floyd Mayweather. After that fight, and the good money earned for both Mayweather fights, Maidana returned to his native Argentina and apparently began feasting in celebration. In fact, it became so evident that Maidana put on too much weight that even his trainer Robert Garcia said that he would have to work with Maidana for several months just to lose the weight, before they could even really start training for another fight. As many people surmised, this meant there was little-to-no chance of a Maidana return in 2015. That sentiment has now been officially confirmed by Maidana's manager Sebastian Contursi.

"Marcos is just taking a good rest like other boxers have done in the past," Contursi explained to World Boxing News.

"The is no news so far regarding an exact time that Marcos will be ready, which means we have to move forward to planning a fight for next year, I guess."

Now the question becomes, when Maidana returns, will he even be returning to the welterweight division? According to Contursi, there's a possibility that Maidana moves up to 154lbs to make a title run there. I, myself, wonder if Maidana can even get back down to 147lbs in good condition.

"It is premature to know at this point whether Marcos will fight at welterweight. Yet if Marcos was willing to fight at 154, he would have the historical opportunity to try to become the first ever boxer from Argentina to hold three world titles in three different weight classes.

"It's just an idea at this point, but we will know more when Marcos is ready to return," he added.

One could argue that Maidana might be better suited moving up to the junior middleweight division, a division that isn't nearly as stacked as the welterweight division at this time.