Mayweather v Maidana “The Moment” is almost here

By Boxing News - 04/30/2014 - Comments

By Ryan Allan: Las Vegas is ready for it’s biggest fight of the year thus far as Marcos “El Chino” Maidana becomes the latest man to enter the Floyd Mayweather Jr sweepstakes as he attempts to take Floyd’s most prized possession; his cherished “0”.

Of course Mayweather would have you believe that all he cares about is money, but make no mistake about it, the unbeaten record is all Floyd needs to motivate himself with and on Saturday, it comes under a genuine threat in the form of the dangerous, hard hitting Argentinian Maidana.

“El chino”, chosen for the flight over Amir Khan by the “Money Man”, comes into the bout having dismantled and punished Floyd’s “little brother” Adrian Broner in one of last years most exciting, and enjoyable fights, mostly because we saw the previously unbeaten Broner’s arrogant smile wiped firmly from his face.

Within 20 seconds of their bout, it was clear Maidana cared not a jot about the unbeaten record or the flash that Broner brought to the ring.as he hurt him early in the first round, and had him doing the chicken dance in the very next stanza.

It was a fantastic win for Maidana who has certainly grown into the welter weight division in the past 18 months, and with famed strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza joining his camp for this fight, there can be no question that he will be in the best possible shape and this represents one of Mayweather’s more difficult challenges in recent years.

For Maidana to win however requires an extension of the imagination to some degree as Mayweather has barely been hurt in his long career and has hardly taken a punch in his 2 most recent fights, shut out wins over Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez. Maidana meanwhile is talking about knockouts and I find that concept hard to envisage in this fight, even if I would love it more than anything I’ve ever seen in a boxing ring.

The Argentine slugger does need to take the fight to Floyd, set a fast pace and back him up on the ropes but all these things are easier said than done and it is not the first time we have heard about aggression being the remedy to the Mayweather skill set. 45 have tried and 45 have failed as he is so keen to remind us.

There is however no question that Maidana is a fighter in his prime and has the ability to pull off a major upset on Saturday if he can apply serious pressure and land one of his wicked left hooks, but once again, it is so hard to even imagine Floyd hurt or losing a fight that backing the upset would take the bravest of all gamblers.

Floyd, while being completely devoid of class, friends, or even attractive women in his life, as so shamelessly exhibited on the Showtimes series All Access, is without any shadow of doubt, the greatest defensive fighter of this or any era and whether Maidana has the skills and boxing ability to go with his fortitude and punching power is somewhat unclear. Solving the Broner problem is one thing but finding the formula to unravle the Mayweather equation is an entirely different stratosphere of scientific boxing analysis. They don’t call it the sweet science for nothing. Boxing is based on the art of hitting and not getting hit and that is why Mayweather, at 37, and unbeaten, remains the best, richest and most powerful man in the sport today. Untouchable you might say.

While the obvious prediction is Mayweather by unanimous decision, I do feel that this will be a good fight, highly competitive and it is quite possible that Maidana has the strength to hurt Mayweather and certainly trouble him in the first 4-6 rounds of this fight, but what is less likely, is his ability to catch him clean and truly have him hurt, or even, tasting canvas. There is just no precedent for it but records are there to be broken and my reliable gut instinct is telling me that this Mayweather fight is going to be worth tuning into.

Maidana needs to fight relentlessly and without fear and if he can do that, then this fight could be closer than some sceptics would have you believe. Bob Arum spoke of how the public needed to boycott this event but such hot air and nonsense is best ignored. Bob would do well to take a look at his own ideas on how to sell fights to the fans. Does he really believe people want to see Manny Pacquiao fight Juan Manuel Marquez for a 5th time? Please. Top Rank has the feel of Hollywood now as all they are capable of it seems, are fading franchise sequels.

But I digress, boxing politics is best left for another day but.I expect good action on Saturday and a degree of drama and there is always the possibility that this could finally be “The Moment” when Mayweather finally tastes defeat for the first time.



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