(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) says he’s going to fight Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) completely different from how he fought his last two opponent Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013. Mayweather had a definite fight strategy for those two fights, namely to avoid getting hit while focusing on landing hard pot shots. It worked perfectly for Mayweather, because neither guy was able to do anything with him at all.
For Mayweather’s fight on Saturday night against Marcos Maidana, he says he’s going to abandon all fight strategies completely and stand right in front of Maidana to punch with him. You can say that by choosing to slug, Mayweather is using a game plan, but not really.Slugging it out with an opponent doesn’t take a lot of thought. Mayweather wants to beat Maidana by showing he can best him using his own style.
“It’s not going to be the same fight that I fought with Canelo; it’s not going to be the same fight that I fought with Robert Guerrero,” Mayweather said. It’s going to be a totally different fight. No game plan at all. I’m going to be right there.”
If Maidana can’t beat Mayweather with him standing directly in front him him then he’ll never be able to beat him. Mayweather, if he’s being honest about his plan of standing in the trenches, wants to make sure that he gives fans a good show in this fight. The criticism that Mayweather has received from the likes of Bob Arum about him being a huge favorite over Maidana must have gotten to him, because it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Mayweather to stand in the pocket against a dangerous puncher like Maidana in this fight. Maidana has the kind of power that can rearrange your face and knock you out if he can land his shots. Adrien Broner found out the hard way that it’s not safe to be in front of Maidana,
It’s quite possible that Mayweather will quickly change his mind about wanting to trade with Maidana after he sees his own blood dripping down his face onto the canvas. Once Mayweather tastes his own blood, it’s likely that he’ll have second thoughts about wanting to slug with Maidana and will play it safe from that point on. To some boxing fans, Mayweather will look bad for having changed his mind about wanting to punch with Maidana, but it’s better for him to change his mind than it is for him to get beaten up and knocked out.
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