In June 2009,  the relatively unknown Marcos Rene Maidana burst into the consciousness of the boxing community at large with a sensational TKO victory against highly regarded “Vicious” Victor Ortiz, in the process winning the Interim WBA Light Welterweight title.  In Saturday night’s HBO Boxing After Dark at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Maidana certified the legitimacy of the victory over Ortiz by stopping the previously unbeaten Victor Rene Cayo. 

In making the second defense of his Interim title, the hard punching Marcos “El Chino” Maidana of Buenos Aires, Argentina, entered the ring with an impressive record of 27-1 with 26 KOs against the Dominican Republic’s unbeaten Victor “Mermelada” Cayo’s equally outstanding record of 24-0 with 15 KOs. 

From the opening bell, Maidana pressed the action with his usual aggressive, hard punching style but found a very elusive, hard to hit opponent in the unbeaten Dominican.  With his hands held low and head moving side-to-side, Cayo proved to be a difficult target as Maidana was unable to connect solidly. 

The second round followed the same pattern, with Maidana looking to land his superior power punches and Cayo avoiding any damage with his shifty side-to-side movement.  However, the round ended in controversy as Maidana landed a terrific left hook to his opponent's head almost simultaneously with the bell ending the round.   

Cayo found himself on the canvas as referee Joe “I’m Firm But I’m Fair” Cortez began to toll the mandatory 8-count.  As a wobbly Cayo found his way back to his corner, his handlers vehemently complained that the punch had come after the bell, and that Maidana was also illegally hitting their man behind the head in the clinches.  Cortez firmly ruled that the punch had been delivered legally just as the bell sounded.    

The action heated up in the next few rounds with the champion applying constant pressure and landing the harder punches, with Cayo trying to frustrate with his elusive movement and counter punching style.  Both fighters enjoyed good moments in the fast paced, active rounds by landing effective combinations, with Maidana having the most success with his more potent arsenal. 

As Maidana began to impose his will early in the 6^th round with several punishing combinations to the head and body, it was clear that Cayo did not have the power to keep him off.  After landing another solid combination,  Maidana delivered a solid right hand to the body that dropped the challenger to the canvas.   

While clutching his body in obvious agony, Victor Cayo was counted out by referee Joe Cortez at 1:38 seconds of the 6^th round.  After receiving assistance from the ringside physicians, Cayo was finally able to rise,  a loser in his bid to capture the interim title.  At the time of the knockout, Maidana seemed to be comfortably ahead with scores of 49-45 in two judges’ scorecards, with the third judge surprisingly scoring it a 47-47 draw. 

With his impressive victory over the previously unbeaten Cayo,  Argentina’s Marcos “El Chino” Maidana raised his record to 28-1 and 27 KOs and remained the Interim Light Welterweight title holder.  

More importantly, he solidified his claim as one of the top fighters in the 140-pound Light Welterweight division.  Fighting in what is recognized as the most talent latent weight class in boxing, he will have ample opportunities to prove he belongs in the conversation of being amongst one of the best fighters in the division. 

In the opening televised fight of the Golden Boy Promotions card,  the Dominican Republic’s Joan Guzman earned a hard fought 12-round split decision verdict over South Africa’s  Ali ‘Rush Hour” Funeka. 

Guzman, the former WBO Super Bantamweight and WBO Super Featherweight champion with an unbeaten record of 30-0-1 with 17 KOs,  and the hard punching Funeka (30-2-3 with 25 KOs), were fighting for the second time for the vacant IBF Lightweight title.  

Their first encounter only four months earlier resulted in a highly controversial draw in which Funeka appeared to have won convincingly.  With his superior boxing skills and excellent combinations,  Funeka’s harder punches appeared to have Guzman on the verge of being stopped on several occasions.  The questionable draw verdict led to their rematch.  

Although the fight was billed as being for the vacant IBF 135-pound title, Guzman was nine pounds over the limit and therefore could not be declared the title holder should he emerge victorious.  The South African met the weight limit and may have been declared champion with a victory. 

Utilizing his 6’1” inch height and his 5-inch reach advantage over his shorter 5’ 7” inch opponent,  Funeka attempted to keep the fight at long range.  Although he displayed an affective jab and solid combinations,  he could not keep Guzman from landing hard,  counter punching combinations of his own.  The early rounds were fought on fairly even terms with both fighters enjoying good moments. 

By the sixth round, Guzman’s nose was bleeding from the effects of his opponent’s solid punches.  With a minute to go in the round,  a looping right hand punch from Guzman landed near the South African’s ear and down he went.  Referee Robert Byrd administered the customary 8-count, and Funeka was able to hold off the attacking Guzman until round’s end.  He did not appear to be seriously hurt by the punch. 

The second half of the fight seemed to be a back-and-forth battle between the two determined warriors, highlighted by Guzman’s constant clowning in an apparent disdain for his opponent’s punching power.  Both landed effective punches, with Funeka seemingly the more active fighter. 

After 12-rounds of fighting, the HBO  “Punch stat” numbers of  punches landed favored the more active Ali Funeka by a meaningful margin.  However,  two of the judges favored Joan Guzman with scores 114-113 and 116-111, while the third judge disagreed by scoring it for Ali Funeka with a score of 114-113 in spite of having suffered the knockdown. 

The South African has now been involved in three consecutive, close, controversial decisions which have not favored him.  In addition to these two encounters with Guzman,  he was also on the short end of a majority decision loss to Nate Campbell in February 2009 at The Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.  Although he suffered two knockdowns in the fight, the general feeling was that Funeka had done enough to have earned the decision.   

Perhaps Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka can find the recipe for success in his upcoming fights and turn these close decisions losses in his favor.  With his obvious talents, a championship belt may yet rest around his waist if he does. 

 

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