By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. was interviewed last night by Showtime’s Steve Farhood last Friday night and asked by he had selected WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana to face next on May 3rd instead of Britain’s Amir Khan. This was the million question, because Mayweather had been previously been leaning in the direction of fighting the better known Khan due to the attention that a fight against him would get.
Mayweather pointed out that he liked the idea of fighting Maidana more than Khan due to what he’s done recently in the ring in winning some big fights. With Khan, he’s not done as well, Mayweather said. What’s interesting is that Mayweather didn’t speak about the poll on his website that Khan won. That was a poll where Mayweather asked boxing fans to select his next opponent, and it was believed at the time that Mayweather would fight whoever the fans picked.
Obviously that wasn’t what Mayweather intended the poll to be, but Khan took it seriously enough to encourage his 1.4 million twitter followers to vote for him, which they did in giving him the win by a 57-43 percent margin.
“Maidana has come back, lately, very, very impressively,” Mayweather said to Showtime. “A lot of great wins, lately, whereas, Amir Khan is 2-2 in his last four fights. So I chose the better man. This is a very, very difficult fight for me. This is a guy that I know that I can’t overlook. Each and every time Marcos Maidana goes out there, he gives it his best. I know that I have to go out there and be at my best, sit down with my father and go over a brilliant game plan, and, hopefully, this training camp goes well. You know, Maidana is tough, and he’s a champion just like I’m a champion, so when you bring the two together, you get nothing but excitement. So this is a guy that I know that I can’t overlook, I must push myself to the limit, and May 3, The Money Team, we’ll be ready.”
Mayweather is right about Khan’s record being a poor one in his last four fights. He’s won 2 out of his last 4 fights, and those victories came against weak opponents so it’s not like you can really count them as wins like you can with Maidana. He’s beaten Jesus Soto Karass, Josesito Lopez and Adrien Broner recently. There’s a huge difference in beating guys like that than with Khan getting wins over a guy named Carlos Molina and a well past his best Julio Diaz, who some fans feel Khan lost to last April.
Maidana does have the power and the fighting style to potentially pull off a big upset on May 3rd and beat Mayweather. Maidana got the better of little Mayweather, Adrien Broner last December, and if he can fight like that against Mayweather, then it’s quite possible we could see Maidana coming out on top. Mayweather is right about Maidana being an opponent that will make the fight exciting for as long as it lasts. He’s not going to run around the ring like Khan, and he’ll not look to shove or hold the way that Khan sometimes does with his opponents.
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