Fabián Andrés Maidana vs. Jaider Parra & César René Cuenca vs. Jonathan José Eniz RBR

Fabián Andrés Maidana vs. Jaider Parra, 10 rounds @ welterweight

 

Round 1

Maidana is checking Parra's advances with quick jabs or double hooks on the right temple when Parra comes diving in, bowling shots at the belt line with the right. Wild slashing rights windmilled in by Parra, dodged with a quick reversal step by Maidana who then pecks his way inside again behind steadying jabs downstairs, bracing his knuckle padding flat against Parra's abdomen, nudging him into an involuntary step away. Maidana is circling, picking his spots carefully. Maidana takes a quick lateral dash and scores a lead hook and cross before Parra can twirl and face up to him.

10-9 Maidana

 

TNT boxing nicely so far.

 

Round 2

Maidana is backing up as Parra draws up his left arm off the lead hip to flick jabs at him, like wet towel-snaps out from his chest. Maidana is walking Parra onto sharp counter jabs & 1-2s as he circles around the ring, pivoting at the corners, sidestepping quickly whenever Parra comes lunging in with unorthodox power combos. Parra is loading up on his shots but they are not thrown artlessly, there's some method to his madness and Maidana has to be very careful to not get clipped - and to his credit, is being as careful as the situation demands. Low pace this round, as Maidana seeks to diffuse Parra's attacks.

10-9 Maidana

20-18 Maidana

 

Round 3

Maidana is keeping a respectful distance, forcing Parra to use his legs to keep abreast, lying in wait and exploding with counter jabs down on the navel or lead rights on the chest. Parra is flicking jabs on the way in, then dropping into a low crouch and swiveling either way so that Maidana is unsure which direction he's coming from with his big left hooks while he unravels his spun-around charge for extra torque. Maidana is being grazed by some of these hooks as he sways back, adjusts his footing, and steps around Parra to drill him with a 1-2.

10-9 Maidana, another close & quiet-ish round full of subtle work from both

30-27 Maidana

 

The commentators on Fox Sports in Argentina gave Parra that round 10-9.5, and have Parra up 29.5-29 after three.

 

Round 4

Maidana is letting Parra now dictate the pace too much, and is getting pounced upon and crowned with the knife edge underside of Parra's fists while languishing on the ropes. Maidana trying in vain to wait until the last moment and time Parra with a straight combo, but Parra is breaking his pattern and coming in like a pinball in a machine with countless redirects. Parra is slamming himself bodily onto Maidana on the ropes, twisting fully around to slip Maidana's straighter punches and landing his own looping stuff as he falls in on him, grinding until the ref orders a break.

10-9 Parra

39-37 Maidana

 

Round 5

Maidana is struggling to solve the puzzle of Parra's unconventional, awkward pressure - his technical fundamentals steeped in orthodoxy failing to give him the magic key to free himself from this dungeon Parra has forced him into. Maidana is missing all his straights, with Parra darting in with a predatory sense of playfulness, whirling, bending his neck, and sashaying either hip in rhythm to let everything roll off his sides as he continues to slap up top with hooks and chip away on the body with diving wrecking-ball combos. Many of Parra's connects are rabbit punches, but incidental and usually sandwiched between a couple of clean legal punches, so no word from the ref.

10-9 Parra

48-47 Maidana

 

Almost time for somebody to start ringing the upset bell?

 

Round 6

Maidana is controlling with the jab, bossing his way in, backhanding it off the hip and then simultaneously windmilling up a right hand and cradling the left by his side where it had swung in pendulous fashion as he took his first swaggering forward step to begin the sequence in a Philly shell combined with an offensive-minded forward-leaning stance. Maidana is looking discouraged and giving the grizzled Venezuelan ever more ground, cowed by the audacity of his game plan and its execution. Maidana tries in the final minute to make a stand, planting his feet and digging some hard body hooks, tripled up, but Parra just slides around them and keeps pushing Maidana back with the jab and the awkward bolo shots.

10-9 Parra

57-57

 

Three on the spin now for Little Blue...all very clear, and the commentators already had Parra up after the first three...

 

Round 7

Maidana is double-jabbing his way in but not reaching as Parra leans back, and flips his own single jab up into Maidana's face. Parra is getting underneath the Maidana jab, stooping in with a yogic warrior pose and hovering with it falling short just an inch from his face, or cricking his neck to either side - making Maidana miss every which way one can. They have some sloppy hooking exchanges in the middle of the ring, with Parra bouncing lightly on his toes and springing off to Maidana's side to clout him on the side of the head. Maidana trying for some heavy body shots, but Parra too jumpy for him, refusing to be pinned in one spot, and holding & clinching whenever Maidana starts to build any momentum with his downstairs work.

10-9 Parra, closer

67-66 Parra

 

The commentators had the last round to Parra 10-9.5, and have it 69-67 Parra overall.

 

Round 8

Maidana is roping out the long left jab from a distance, and leaping in behind a lassoing right hand which Parra barely ducks at the last second, falling against the ropes. Maidana keeps pressing in, stopping short of an invisible moat (nearly but not quite within Parra's crouch-and-hook ambush range) and breaking into a cautious lateral stalking gait, placing jabs where he can. Maidana winning the jab battle now that things have quieted down again. Parra doing some good work with his sneaky jab off the hip as well, but more of Maidana's getting through.

10-9 Maidana, close

76-76