By Bob Smith: The most appropriate response to the tremendous performance by Marcos Maidana is: Wow! Maidana clearly won 5 or 6 rounds of the fight, and I watched it live and had it in the end for Floyd Mayweather Jr by 1 or 2 points, though I could have seen a draw or even a slight edge on the cards for Maidana. One thing that I am sure of is that Mayweather did not deserve to win by more than the three points on the cards – two of the scorecards for the judges were much wider than they should have been.
I actually would have thought a majority draw would have been a reasonably outcome, but without a knockdown from Maidana, I think that in the end a majority decision for Mayweather was the most just.
Don’t get me wrong, I say this not as someone who dislikes Mayweather or wants him to lose or his somehow biased against him – he is my favorite boxer, and I watched the fight in a casino and was really disgusted by the blood-lust of those who cheered against him – comments such as “kill him!!” or “great, now, he only has one eye to fight with!!” filled the room, and there were large cheers whenever Maidana had Mayweather on the ropes and landed some punches in a flurry, in particular his very dangerous uppercut.
One very important thing to note is that by Compubox count, the fight was about a dead heat – Mayweather landed 230 punches to 221 punches by Maidana. However, the majority of Maidana’s punches were landed in rounds that he dominated, such as the early rounds, and Mayweather’s were spread out more evenly. Maidana threw 100 punches in the first round compared to 35 from Mayweather, how can he not win the round with that difference in activity rate? In any case, I was way off when I said that Maidana would do about as well as Miguel Cotto and land 108 punches in this article:
http://www.boxingnews24.com/2014/03/how-many-punches-will-maidana-land-against-floyd/
The question for me and the question for any serious boxing fan should be: how was Maidana able to do so well against Mayweather, when other champions, such as Guerrero, Canelo, Cotto, Mosley, and Juan Manuel Marquez looked so outclassed?
Here are my attempts at an answer:
(1) Maidana is in his prime, whereas the majority of Mayweather opponents have been over the hill. This is true to some extent, but at the same time, Mayweather typically fights those who have come off the biggest wins of their career. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez cannot be called over the hill, perhaps green, but had he lost to Lara or another boxer before the fight, the duo of undefeated fighters would have lost a lot of its luster. Certainly Victor Ortiz and Robert Guerrero were not over the hill. And while Cotto was on the downside of his career, he was still a quality boxer in 2012. It is true that Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya were on the downside of their careers, but Juan Manuel Marquez actually had his greatest victory three years after he fought Mayweather. So, in the end, this is not a valid explanation, and is only partial at best.
(2) Maidana fights with a naturally awkward style, that, when combined with the skill and advice of Robert Garcia, is a perfect blend. This to me is a much better answer overall, and it explains quite a bit of the closeness of the fight. In the first place, Maidana is very difficult to time, for his punches come from awkward angles, and he is a volume puncher, in particular when he has his opponent against the ropes as Mayweather was for far too long in this fight. Maidana won the majority of the exchanges when Mayweather was on the ropes in my view. Also, Maidana’s defense has improved tremendously, and no one to date has made Mayweather miss so frequently with his typical straight rights and check left hooks when they fight in the center of the ring. Mayweather hesitated quite a bit even when in the center of the ring, and really did not successfully time Maidana for much of the fight.
(3) Maidana has the character, heart, and drive of a champion, and his aggressiveness and courage were the key for him. I think that this facet of Maidana, which is completely unrelated to Mayweather or anything he does in the ring, was also a key factor explaining the closeness of the fight. Both Guerrero and Canelo were domesticated by Mayweather after a few rounds, then blown out. Mayweather hurt Guerrero several times in the fight, and intimidated Canelo every round. By contrast, even when Mayweather’s counters landed crisply, they did not intimidate or seem to hurt Maidana. Also, in the first few rounds when Maidana had Mayweather against the ropes and was swinging wildly, Mayweather definitely looked quite beatable. I don’t think most boxers or even most champions would be able to do that, and although Carlos Baldomir fought with the same basic strategy as Maidana, Mayweather was never able to make Maidana look awkward or lose focus, no matter how much his wild punches missed. He showed a great deal of poise and character.
So, what then are the conclusions of this very, very close fight? The first one is that it is not only due to the natural awkwardness of Maidana, nor even to the brilliance of his trainer and fight strategy that he did so well, but also to his character, drive, poise and class. He actually is a “hungry lion” that Mayweather classifies most of his opponents as. He did far better than any opponent Mayweather has faced in his career, and certainly any opponent he has faced in the last five or six years.
The second one is that due to this tremendous performance by Mayweather, his legacy is tarnished a bit; by contrast, Maidana definitely should make the ESPN pound for pound top ten list after his tremendous performance in basically a draw with Mayweather. Of course, Mayweather is a hall of fame fighter and one of the all time greats and still should be the P4P #1, but after his performance against Maidana today, I could not favor him in a fight with a prime Sugar Ray Leonard, and definitely he would not outclass every fighter he would ever face, even if he were in his prime. At the same time, Maidana showed that he is the second best welterweight in the world, and should be a slight favorite against Tim Bradley, Marquez, Pacquaio, Guerrero, or even Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter. I think that Maidana against any of those fighters would be tremendous, and a Maidana vs. Bradley match would be epic; and Maidana vs. Manny Pacquaio might be too close to call and a toss up
The third one is the most unusual and debatable one: while a Maidana vs. Mayweather rematch would be great, probably better than any other Mayweather opponent for September that I could see, I don’t see Maidana doing better the next time around. Mayweather did win the fight, though it was close; however, at least some of this was due to vision issues after the accidental head butt. Another part was the foolishness of Mayweather in trying to go toe to toe with Maidana in order to satisfy the fans, in the same way that Bradley went to war against Ruslan Provodnikov. I don’t see a Mayweather that is totally focused on outclassing Maidana struggling as much in September as he did in this fight. I don’t see that Mayweather lost a step either – just that Maidana needs to be reevaluated and considered the #2 welterweight in the world behind Mayweather.
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Another surprise for me was the degree to which Amir Khan dominated Luis Collazo. Collazo is a very good if aging fighter, and I anticipated that he would hurt Khan and knock him down at least once on a left hook. But if you watch the fight closely, you can see how Khan’s right glove is virtually glued to the side of his head in exchanges, and never once was he tempted to let everything go in the center of the ring. Khan deserved the clear victory, and he quite successfully employed the Wladimir Klitschko strategy of landing a combination and then grabbing – it would be a worthwhile task for anyone who has the time to count how many times Khan held in the fight and then compare it to the number of times that Klitschko held Alexander Potevkin. In any case, it was a great win for Khan, and a testament to how much he is grown as a fighter under the tutelage of Virgil Hunter.
Going forward, I see two potential fights that could challenge the excellent Maidana vs. Mayweather for fight of the year status:
(1) Gennady Golovkin vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr – No matter how dominant Golovkin may seem at 160, it is an entirely different task that he will take on in July when he goes to war with a likely 190 pound Chavez Jr, supremely motivated, with a cast iron chin and tremendous body punching. I see this fight going the distance, and I think, perhaps contrary to popular opinion,that if there is a knockdown, it will be Chavez Jr on Golovkin due to a tremendous body shot rather than Golovkin on Chavez. I just don’t see Golovkin dominating this one as he has dominated all of his other opponents in the past, but still favor him for a UD or split decision win, due to work rate, footwork, relatively better defense, and overall boxing skill. He may even survive a knockdown to get the victory, and it will be close, but I favor Golovkin narrowly.
(2) Canelo vs. Erislandy Lara – This for me is the most exciting fight of the year and a true toss up. Canelo is overrated, yes, but he is also very good; Lara is underrated and has excellent footwork and defense due in no small part to his Cuban amateur pedigree; but his chin is suspect against an aggressive and bullying slugger. It should be a good fight, and I think that a Canelo KO or a Lara decision are equally likely to me at this point, but I’ll have to follow it much more closely for a more detailed prediction later.
I can’t believe a Mayweather championship bout was this close! It was a great fight, and I would love to hear your opinion of the fight or any part of my article in the comments, thanks
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