This Saturday May 3rd, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, undefeated (45-0) world pound for pound number one Floyd Mayweather enters the ring to face Marcos Maidana. At Several Bookmakers Sportsbook, Mayweather is a (-1100) favorite over Maidana, who returns at (+700).Now that fight week is actually here, it is hard to see money coming in on Maidana. The rhetoric on Maidana’s chances is extremely negative, as almost no one gives him any chance of winning. This has to serve as a motivator for Maidana, and in his last outing against Adrien Broner, he showed that he could dictate the pace of a fight when motivated. Broner had earned a lot of comparisons with Mayweather up until that fight, and Broner is a talker that got under Maidana’s skin and the Argentine turned it into a positive in the ring.
Unfortunately for Maidana, his motivation is the only factor that could be in his favor. It is also by far his biggest payday, and it certainly is just another fight for Mayweather.
But Mayweather is not Broner. Against Broner, Maidana came out fast, throwing punches from many different angles and taking it to Broner, who he caught off guard with his aggression. He dropped Broner early, and he then seemed to let Maidana set the pace early, and throwing nothing that hurt Maidana. How many of those three things do you see Mayweather giving to Maidana?
The unfortunate fact is that Maidana is a slower fighter with a great chin, so he will take some shots to get his own in. Mayweather will be very content to hit him while getting out of the way of incoming punches, and if Mayweather stings him with one, Mayweather certainly has the savvy to take him out or settle back and not get too anxious, depending on the situation.
The over/under sits at nine and a half, with Maidana returning (-320) if he gets into the 10th round. Here may be a good spot to put some money on Maidana, as Mayweather is capable of a KO in this fight, but he has shown himself as just as capable to coasting to a win if he is ahead on the cards and not risknig a KO.