(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/Showtime) By Marc Livitz: Who among us can remember the old style class votes we used in elementary school? The class would write down a name on a small piece of paper, fold it up and then place it in a basket. Sometimes the memories are even clearer if your name was one amongst the candidates for class president or whatever the post at stake happened to be. If we lost the vote, then at the very least we were able to see the number of votes cast and the evidence was far beyond concrete. For a number of years, the months of either/or May and September have become synonymous with a certain Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. and a particular venue located on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
As we all know by now, Floyd took the highest road and ultimately found it paved with gold once he not only became his own promoter but tweaked his public persona as well. Internet polls are nothing new.
How gracious it must have been meant to feel when Mayweather allowed the public to select his May 2014 opponent. The two potential opponents, Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana, respectively were the only two names on the ballot. The choices and the obviously doctored result stunk worse than Florida in the year 2000.
A plethora of articles across the web have lambasted the “official” poll result which has, per Mayweather declared Khan as the next in line to get a shot at “Money”. At the very least, perhaps we should feel gifted that Floyd left the decision to the voting public even though the bare minimal show of hands amongst knowledgeable boxing fans would have a different result and with only two choices, the winner would be Marcos “El Chino” Maidana. Countless opinions have taken clear aim at the two respective fighters’ recent history in the ring and more specifically why in a pugilistic sense the wrong guy won the tally.
Two of the three losses on Maidana’s ledger came by way of boxers who were smart enough to stay away from him and fight around the edges (Andriy Kotelnik and Devon Alexander).
Marcos Maidana is mean. He sports numerous tattoos, including one of a Colt Python pistol on his waist. He doesn’t mix his words and so he simply prefers to let his staggering 89% knockout ratio tell the story. He made Victor Ortiz quit. He survived a liver shot from Amir Khan in the first round and shockingly rose to his feet just moments after writhing in pain on the ring apron. Erik Morales stunned the world in April 2011 when he lasted a full twelve rounds with Maidana and gave a performance that jumpstarted his career. Since then, “El Chino” has lost only once. He was thoroughly out boxed and outwitted in February 2012 when Devon Alexander wised up and stayed just clear of Maidana’s bull rush and cleverly land counter shots throughout the contest.
Amir “King” Khan, by contrast has been given numerous chances and second looks ever since he was flattened in one round, likely very unluckily by Breidis Prescott in September 2008. Basically, the past few years for Khan have been a bit suspect once the other two losses to his name are considered. The knockout loss to Danny Garcia in summer 2012 has been in the forefront of evidence against his merits to face Mayweather, Jr. However, Khan beat himself seven months prior when he met Lamont Peterson. The bout took place in Lamont’s hometown. The losing fighter from Bolton, Lancashire, UK cried (loudly) foul, even though it was his own fouls that may have indeed led to his downfall in the bout. Khan had a point deducted in rounds seven and twelve, respectively for pushing. Peterson got away with a few instances of bending the rules himself, though he was not officially penalized.
Bottom line: someone needs to tell Floyd to sit out until September. Yes, that’s right. Why? He’s bound to monetarily paint himself into a corner yet again, much like what took place last year versus Robert Guerrero. The bout itself was wretched, which to some was not an anomaly in regard to a Mayweather bout. However, as much as he would hate to admit and regardless of the finances involved, Floyd still needs a “1B” and not a “B” fighter to make one evening in the ring a smashing success. It doesn’t quite matter if his opponent is the Englishman or Argentine. The night will tank.
All things considered, allow Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana to fight each other once more. “El Chino” already starched Floyd’s “little brother” a few months ago and even a Maidana versus Mayweather matchup is much more several rungs than steps up from Adrien Broner, the cocky yet talented kid from Cincinnati who many feel was thoroughly beaten in his first true test as a world champion.
Should things go as planned on May 3 of this year (there’s no reason to believe that it will not), expect to pay for it now and once again in four months in another sham of fight chock full of a smoke and mirrors type of promotion. Floyd’s last outing was against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and the hype surrounding the bout proved to be monumental, while the fight itself was nothing more than a walkover which should have included a personal thank you letter to the paying consumer from P.T. Barnum himself. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is simply too good and perhaps the only chap who could truly challenge him is on the other side of a ridiculous feud which has cost us one too many bottles of antacid.
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