Marcos Maidana's camp has informed boxing bigwig Al Haymon that "El Chino" will not be ready for an April date with Adrien Broner, who has exercised a rematch clause in his contract after a December 14th pummeling.
Maidana's manager Sebastian Contursi said, "We just had an approaching telephone conversation with Al Haymon and I've let him know that April is too early. We don't know about Broner, but Maidana usually needs six weeks to rest and ten weeks for training camp, so there is not enough time to rest and train properly for a major fight in April."
In addition to the necessary rest and training periods Maidana needs, he and his wife are expecting a child in March. An April fight would keep him in the United States during that time.
Another motive for this maneuver, though, could be remaining viable in the Floyd Mayweather Jr. sweepstakes. Mayweather made comments this week in South Africa, naming both Maidana and Amir Khan as options to become his next opponent.
The news seemed odd, since Broner had exercised his rematch clause. It's possible that Broner wants to get back in the ring in April at all costs, however, and would take on another opponent to stay busy. That would free "Chino" to go ahead and face Mayweather, having his rematch with Broner another time.
Should Maidana go in another direction, there are plenty of options for the "Problem" at 147 lbs. A rematch with Paulie Malignaggi, who was surprisingly competitive in their matchup earlier in 2013, would generate interest from an in-ring standpoint, as well as from contentious pre-fight antics.
IF not Malignaggi, there are a host of entertaining fighters in the welterweight division such as IBF champion Shawn Porter, up-and-coming knockout artist Keith Thurman, or even the returning Victor Ortiz.
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