By Rick Reeno

Home Depot Center, Carson, California - Welterweight contender Marcos Maidana (34-3, 31KOs) says a shot to the hip in Saturday's fight against Josesito Lopez (30-6, 18KOs) was a serious concern in the fight. During the action, Maidana stated that his leg went numb and he had trouble moving for at least two rounds, which allowed Lopez to rally strong with big punches.

Once the pain in his hip went away, Maidana was very confident that he was capable of knocking Lopez out. The end came in the sixth, after Maidana dropped Josesito and then followed up by trapping him against the ropes and letting his hands go with hard landed punches.

"He hit me on the hip and then I was in a lot of pain. My leg was numb and I couldn't really move well. That's when he landed his punches. I was doing everything I could to protect my leg, because I was afraid that if I get hit there again then I wouldn't be able to continue," Maidana stated.

"I'm lucky that he doesn't that hard because [another fighter might have] knocked me out [in that situation]. He let me off the hook, but I didn't let him off the hook. Once my leg was feeling better [around the fifth round], I was very confident that I was going to knock him out. Robert Garcia really helped me a lot in the corner. When I told him that my leg was bothering, he said 'we came here to go to war' and that's what I went out there and did."