Mayweather: I’m going to come straight at Maidana

By Boxing News - 04/23/2014 - Comments

floyd72By Chris Williams: WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (45-0, 26 KO’s) says he won’t be using a lot more movement against WBA 147lb champion Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) in their fight next month on May 3rd. Mayweather says he plans on staying in the pocket against the Argentinian fighter when the two of them meet up at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

If Mayweather fights Maidana like that then he would be fighting him the same way that Adrien Broner did last December. But it didn’t work out well for Broner because he took a lot of shots that he shouldn’t have, and his shoulder roll wasn’t working as well as he needed it on that night. Broner did fight well in the second half of the fight when he started pushing Maidana back, but things didn’t go well in the first six rounds for Broner when he was just standing stationary in front of Maidana.

“I’m not going to do a lot of moving when I get in the ring. I’m coming straight ahead,” Mayweather said. “Everyone is supposed to say they want to fight me. Right now Maidana is the guy that I can’t overlook.”

Maidana will probably be happy to hear what Mayweather says because Maidana’s chances go up if Mayweather decides to fight him toe-to-toe. If Mayweather uses movement then Maidana has almost no chance of winning the fight, because he’s got very slow feet and slow hands. But if Mayweather gives him a handicap like he did against the equally slow Miguel Cotto in his fight with him in 2012, then this fight will be a lot more interesting.

Mayweather is a genius and he must be thinking that it will be more in his interest to make this a competitive fight by giving Maidana an advantage. Mayweather isn’t one of those fighters who likes to get an advantage over his opposition. You won’t see Mayweather asking for a huge catch-weight handicap against one of his opponents unless they bring it up first.

Mayweather wants to beat his opponents where they feel comfortable. And with Maidana, he feels most comfortable when his opponents are standing directly in front of him so that he has a chance to try and land his shots. But just because Mayweather is standing in front of Maidana doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to land his punches.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Maidana is hitting air all night long in fighting a mirage in front of him. Mayweather got the better of Cotto and Ricky Hatton by fighting their fights and beating them at their own game. We could see the same thing happen to Maidana on May 3rd. But you’ve got to give Mayweather massive credit for showing Maidana the courtesy of standing in front of him to give him a chance to land his big punches in this fight. I don’t know of too many fighters would give him that chance after the way he beat Broner.



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