Boxing: Marcos Maidana and the Oscar De La Hoya Blueprint

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Oscar De La Hoya used to talk about becoming an architect when he was a teenager, if his boxing career did not pan out. We know now how that ended. In a sense, however, De La Hoya did become a draftsman of a rare boxing blueprint. Not just any plan, either, but one that, if followed correctly, could open the doors to riches about which most fighters can only dream.

There De La Hoya stood, a wise smirk on his face the week Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought against Juan Manuel Marquez in September 2009, holding a secret that everyone saw.

“You have to crowd Mayweather and punish him any time you get close,” De La Hoya said. “You need to lower his hands and go to his body. Get in tight without getting too close; impose your will. Someone bigger, with fast hands, could beat him. You have to be a bully, and for eight rounds, I bullied him. I was just too old to go all 12 rounds and beat him.”

It took five years to follow De La Hoya’s blueprint in almost solving the Mayweather enigma, as Marcos Maidana gave the champion all kinds of hell on May 3, losing a 12-round majority decision. Maidana and “Money” will meet in a rematch on Saturday at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, with Mayweather’s WBC welterweight and light middleweight titles and his WBA super world welterweight belt on the line. Maybe this time De La Hoya’s blueprint can be thoroughly obeyed. Maidana (35-4, 31 knockouts) came as close to beating Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) as De La Hoya did during their record-breaking May 2007 clash.

“We’ve never been in front of Floyd before, and I’m talking about not only ‘Chino’ [Maidana] but myself,” said Robert Garcia, Maidana’s trainer, “so there was always that question about how good is Floyd, how strong is he, how powerful? We learned all of that from Madiana’s fight and what he told me after the fight. I honestly felt that the worries he had originally ... because you look at Mayweather and his reputation as a great fighter like you would at someone like Mike Tyson, and [at] once you’re in awe of him the ring. After the fight, that doubt was gone. Maidana found out that Mayweather is not as fast as everyone thinks; he’s not as powerful as everyone thinks.”

Garcia hinted that he borrowed a page from what De La Hoya tried to do seven years ago. The intention was to rough up the smaller Mayweather, push him around, force him into uncomfortable areas against the ropes and try to wear him down with a body attack. To a degree, Maidana accomplished those goals. After six rounds, one judge had Maidana up 58-56, and the other two judges had him trailing by a close 58-56 margin. Over the last six rounds, Maidana seemed to fizzle -- something he and Garcia admit. It was a correctable mistake, they said, and they vow it will not be one they make this time around.

“Maidana came in a little too heavy [for fight night], which was the plan,” Garcia said. “We never faced Mayweather before, so we wanted to take every advantage possible, but I think it’s what hurt Maidana in the later rounds. We were close to 160 [pounds] the night of the fight. I want him lighter than 160. It’s not like Mayweather made all of these adjustments. It’s just that Maidana slowed down a lot, because [of] all of the weight. Mayweather never hurt Maidana, and Maidana doesn’t think he can hurt him. We’re going to go the entire 12 rounds.”

Mayweather has joked that he felt like he was in the ring with an MMA fighter the first time with Maidana. There was some roughhouse tactics referee Tony Weeks allowed Maidana to use, but Kenny Bayless, the third man in the ring for the rematch, may not do the same. Maidana does not care.

“The first fight, I think that my attack, the pressure, was very good, but I didn’t do well with my distance control,” he said. “I think I smothered a lot of my punches. I wasn’t able to really catch him with good solid shots, being able to extend my punches, and that’s one of the things that I’m working on. Because I smothered my punches, I don’t really think I ever hurt him, but this time around, if I get him with good solid shots, work my distance control, I think I can hurt him.”