VICTOR ORTIZ vs MARCOS MAIDANA

One of the most talented and exciting young stars in boxing gets his toughest test — on paper anyway — when “Vicious” Victor Ortiz headlines Saturday’s Boxing After Dark show on HBO in a 12-round WBA interim 140-pound title fight against Argentina’s Marcos Maidana.

Ortiz is, rightly, a clear favourite in the betting. He has been looking devastating in his most recent fights, he is boxing on his home turf and he’s the house fighter on the Golden Boy Promotions show.

Maidana, with 24 KO wins in 26 fights and just one loss — and that on a debatable decision to a world champion — is a worthy opponent.

If Ortiz wins impressively, the fight will move him closer to the superstardom that the Golden Boy people feel is inevitable.

Certainly it is hard to find a fault with the 22-year-old Ortiz. A junior Olympic champion in the amateurs, he can box and punch, is fast, strong and smart — and he has a pleasing personality on top of all of this.

Ortiz provides action, too. He hits powerfully with either hand from his southpaw stance, and in his last two fights he was spectacularly good, taking a total of four rounds to blow away seasoned Jeffrey Resto and former world title challenger Mike Arnaoutis.

I think of Ortiz as being unbeaten, but he does have a loss on his record, getting disqualified for an over-impetuous act when he dropped an opponent with a punch delivered on the break.

Does Maidana have any chance at all, then, of derailing — if temporarily — the Ortiz express? I think he does, although I suspect that am in the distinct minority.

Maidana can punch but he also has some boxing ability, and his hands are fast. He very nearly beat Andreas Kotelnik in their title fight in January — a split decision loss that could just as easily have been a win for Maidana.

That fight was a learning experience for Maidana. He had become accustomed to seeing opponents fold up when he hit then, but Kotelnik stayed with him, weathering two-handed barrages and firing back. Maidana was hit by sharp punches and even made to back off at times, which is something he isn’t accustomed to doing.

Maidana has attempted to improve his technique and stamina by moving to Las Vegas for an intense five-week training camp under the direction of fellow-Argentinean Miguel Diaz, an experienced trainer, cornerman and cut man.

“Maidana is a very hard worker and he’s the best puncher I’ve known in the junior welterweights, except for maybe Roger Mayweather with his right hand,” Diaz said over the phone from Las Vegas before flying out to Los Angeles this week. “He reminds me of Victor Galindez. He’s a hungry fighter. He said he was too confident when he fought Kotelnik — he thought he’d knock him out easily. For this fight, he’s trained as never before. I know Victor Ortiz, and I know how good he is, but I think we’ve got a very good chance. The winner could be the first one to land a big punch, and either guy could land it.”

Ortiz has the star quality, but Maidana has always seemed to me to carry himself like a fighter with considerable self-belief. No boxer likes to lose in his first world title challenge, but perhaps Maidana had been having things too easy and needed the loss to Kotelnik to bring him down to earth. He has looked leaner and more muscular in photos than he looked when he fought Kotelnik.

Maidana has an amateur pedigree, having been a quarterfinalist in the world championships as well as boxing in two Olympic qualifying tournaments. He knows how to fight.

Ortiz, though, has the look of a very special type of fighter, poised, polished and powerful — and he’s a southpaw. He could come out and dominate Maidana.

I get the feeling, however, that Maidana is going to be fiercely competitive. If he doesn’t walk into a big shot in the early stages I think he can start to make life uncomfortable for Ortiz, especially if he is able to get off the sort of two-handed attacks he launched against Kotelnik. It was difficult for Maidana to get a clean shot home in that bout, due to Kotelnik’s tight guard, but it seemed to me that he was moving his opponent even when hitting him on the arms. If Maidana can hit Ortiz on the chin, he can hurt him. Unfortunately for Maidana, this goes both ways — in Ortiz he will be meting the best puncher he has ever faced.

Maidana has had to get off the floor to win — but so, too, has Ortiz. Overall, Ortiz has faced the better calibre of opponent — but he hasn’t met anyone as good as Kotelnik, and Maidana fought the Ukrainian even-up.

I make Ortiz the better technical boxer, but sometimes a Maidana type — a tough fighter who can punch, has a certain awkwardness, is in tiptop condition and has a great will to win — can find a way to grit out a victory over an opponent with superior skill. The fact that Maidana has spent five weeks training in Las Vegas indicates to me that he has put everything he has into getting ready for this fight.

Ortiz stopped Arnaoutis far more easily than I, for one, expected — but could it be that he was meeting a fighter who was more faded than we realised? In his next bout, Arnaoutis barely outpointed a journeyman.

As good as Ortiz has looked when outclassing opponents, we haven’t seen him come through in a gruelling battle. At least Maidana has the experience of having fought 12 bitterly contested rounds at world championship level.

Although Ortiz is the favourite, I think that this is a risky fight for him. If Ortiz dominates and destroys Maidana I will be massively impressed, because I am anticipating a competitive fight and some back-and-forth rounds.

We do not know how Maidana will stand up to Ortiz’s power and accuracy, and we won’t know until the fight is in progress. What happens, though, if Maidana can land a big punch on Ortiz’s chin?

Ortiz looks the likely winner, perhaps on a stoppage some time after round eight, but, for me, there are enough intangibles to make this one of those fights where anything can happen.