This past Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, boxing fans saw Floyd Mayweather win a majority decision over Marcos “El Chino” Maidana. The judges scored the fight, 114-114, 117-111, 116-112. I scored the fight a draw. This fight could have been scored 8-4 or 7-5 either way. With the win, Mayweather was able to unify the WBC and WBA Welterweight belts. This was not your typical Mayweather win as many fans booed him when it was announced that he had won the fight. This was the first time in a long time that Mayweather was tested and many observers believe Maidana won the fight. Maidana may not have walked out with the belts but he won the crowd with his great performance. His stock in Boxing went up the roof with his performance on Saturday night.
Maidana started off strong and his pressure took Mayweather off guard. Maidana went into this fight with no remorse. He kept his focus and showed no respect to Mayweather inside the ring. When Floyd got cut in the 4th round, it appeared that after the round, Floyd was crying, “I can’t see.” His cut man did a great job at healing that cut which stopped completely as the fight went on.
Floyd in my score cards was losing the fight entering the 6th round but the beauty of Mayweather is his ability to make adjustments. He made the appropriate adjustments and was out boxing Maidana in the middle of those rounds. I got flashbacks of Mayweather vs Ortiz when in round 8, Floyd tried the same tactic of touching the gloves but Maidana was too smart for that. Throughout the fight, Floyd was complaining a lot to Referee Tony Weeks but Weeks being the great Ref that he is did not bowed down to his demands and let the fight move on. It was interesting to hear that Mayweather was disappointed at Weeks and stated that he wouldn’t want him to be the ref at his next fight. Could it be that Floyd was bothered when he was treated like any other normal boxer?
When the fight was over and people were booing the decision, Jim Gray asked Mayweather if he would give Maidana a rematch and he said yes, the response that had people in cheers was when Maidana was asked if he would fight Floyd in September, Chino responded with his classic, “I will give him the rematch because I won. So yeah if he wants the rematch I will give it to him.”
What few casual fans noticed was that Chino Maidana was not fighting with the boxing gloves that were approved by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Boxing fans recalled that Floyd was threatening to cancel the fight if Maidana didn’t wear Grant gloves. What strikes me as odd is why did the commission allowed to have Team Mayweather that much control to decide which gloves his opponent wears. Maidana practically fought Mayweather with Sparring Gloves. Could this be Floyd taking another short cut to maintain his undefeated streak. In his fight with Marquez he refused to fight at the 144 limit therefore paying Marquez camp so he can tip the scales at 146. In Boxing, 2 pounds makes a huge difference. In his fight with Canelo, he ended fighting him at 152 rather than the maximum weight of 154. And now with Maidana, we see him force Maidana’s camp to wear a different pair of gloves. It his rumored that Maidana’s camp received a substantial amount of money to fight with the gloves that were worn. I don’t blame Maidana’s camp but it would have been interesting if they would have kept their stance and walked out to the gloves that the commission approved. Floyd would not have cancel the fight. It would have been Mayweather’s first loss if he did.
So with Mayweather and Maidana on board for the rematch fight on September, will see Maidana fight with his preferred gloves? Will Floyd learn his lesson and go back to what he does best or would he engage in another brawl with Maidana? Who will be on the undercard. If I was Richard Shaeffer or De La Hoya, these are the fights I would go with:
Mayweather vs Maidana 2
Broner(Garcia) vs Matthysse
Santa Cruz vs Frampton
Love/Ishe(only cuz he is a Floyd fighter) vs Angulo
Tags: Boxing, Broner vs Matthysse, Chino Maidana, Floyd Mayweather, Garcia vs Matthysse 2, Las Vegas, Love/Ishe vs Angulo, Marcos Maidana, Mayweather, Mayweather vs Maidana 2, MGM Grand, Nevada State Athletic Commission, Oscar De La Hoya, Richard Shaeffer, Santa Cruz vs Frampton, Sparring Gloves
September 7, 2014 at 11:30 pm |
It may very well turn out that the gloves won’t make any difference, but
for now it’s worth our speculation, which is what fuels every match.
When the match was in the center of the ring, Mayweather would control the tempo of the fight but whenever Maidana found a way to take the action to the trenches, he
found a way to score points. Maidana is just a step-up from Malignaggi, and if he really wants to
defeat Maidana Broner may need to provide yet another dimension to his
sport.