Michael Nelson recaps this past Saturday night's HBO show featuring Marcos Maidana vs Victor Cayo and Ali Funeka vs Joan Guzman.

Marcos Maidana continues to leave his imprint as one of the sport's most exciting fighters.

The Argentinian slugger broke down and stopped a game Victor Cayo with a short right hand to the solar plexus in the 6th round. Cayo showed flash and testicular fortitude as he consistently shot combinations into Maidana's guard, but Maidana's heavier hands carried the day. After five rounds of right hands and left hooks being hammered into his rib cage, Victor sat down in his corner with a facial expression that indicated he knew the end was near.

He was right. His tricky movement was paralyzed a minute into the sixth when Maidana slammed yet another left hook into his body. The air was knocked out of him, and Marcos took advantage by teeing off with head shots. The blow to the solar plexus came 20 seconds later and put the weary 25 year old Dominican down for the count.

Cayo found out what several other fighters before him came to realize; Maidana's crudeness may allow for early success, but the weight of his power eventually becomes suffocating. Andriy Kotelnik, a well-schooled fighter who's extremely difficult to hurt, went 12 with him and won a close decision. His disfigured face at the end of the bout, however, told the story of a man who took a tour through hell.

Ideally, Maidana continues to fight top competition so we can find out who can walk through those same flames without getting torched. Virtually any matchup featuring the hard-punching upstart would be must see TV, but if Nate Campbell beats Victor Ortiz in May, then it's hard for me to imagine a better fight than Maidana facing an equally brutal body puncher in Mr. Campbell.

Meanwhile, Joan Guzman won a split decision over Ali Funeka on the undercard - a decision that he did and didn't deserve. He deserved it in that he did edge out more rounds on my scorecard in a largely nondescript bout. He didn't deserve it in that he blatantly cheated by coming in nine pounds over the lightweight limit, making it clear that he didn't go through any of the struggles Funeka went through to make weight. This isn't the first time he compromised the integrity of the sport, and hopefully HBO doesn't continue to reward him with television dates.

Congratulations to Guzman for showing he's the best welterweight in the lightweight division, but I don't care to see him ever again.

Maidana, on the other hand, I hope to see as much as possible.

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