Going into last night’s Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mayweather was up to a 10-1 favorite at Several Bookmakers, with little chance being given to the Argentine Maidana. Maidana more than made a fight out of it, he clearly felt he won the fight, and both fighters as well as promoter Richard Shaefer all mentioned a potential September re-match. It is hard to make Floyd Mayweather Jr. look bad in a boxing ring. Like him or hate him, he is a superior and precise athlete who is fluid in every move he makes in the ring. However, Maidana succeeded in grinding him and slowing him down, often trapping him against the ropes. Mayweather, for his part, won the fight because he did not spend all night running, he allowed the fight to get down and dirty along the ropes, and he was precise with his punches landing over 50 percent of his power shots, while Maidana toiled all night, landing about the same amount of punches while throwing nearly three times more blows. Maidana in the post-fight interviews looked unmarked, like he had not been hit at all. He never stopped coming forward, and sure he had to throw a lot of punches to get through and hit possibly the best defensive fighter of our time, but he landed a lot of good blows to the body throughout the fight, and while his overhand right never hurt Mayweather, it landed frequently as well. Mayweather, more than anything, was frustrated in the fight by Maidana’s awkward approaches, and he gave away rounds early in the fight, which is very unusual for Mayweather. Maidana has potentially earned himself another big payday, and he has to be heading into a potential re-match with a lot of confidence based on this first performance. Also on the card was Brit Amir Kahn, who Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports said looked better than he has ever looked at 147lbs taking out Luis Collazo. Khan’s name has been mentioned as a potential Mayweather opponent for more than a year, and he wants the fight. Due to his religious beliefs, he fasts in September and will not be available for that date, which is the date Mayweather has pencilled in. Khan is quick, tall, and very technical and he has youth on his side, which makes the match-up with Mayweather appealing in that he is a completely different fighter than Maidana. So right now, it looks like 2014 may be the year of Maidana for Floyd Mayweather. Look for better, closer odds for the re-match should it go down.
