(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By David Alexander: On May 3rd, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) will go against a strong willed, highly spirited and determined Marcos ‘El Chino’ Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s). While most boxing fans and aficionados expect an easy win for the The Ring Magazine #1 Pound for Pound boxer in the world, Mayweather needs to make a statement of his own to the boxing world and fans alike.
With a 45-0 record heading into his upcoming fight in Las Vegas, Mayweather has little to prove to anyone at this point but for him proving he is the best boxer of this generation and owning up to the TBE label as he proclaims, Floyd needs to give a masterful performance at the MGM Grand Garden arena.
Marcos Maidana has made no mistake he will be aggressive and pressure Mayweather throughout the fight. Maidana is an ultra-aggressive fighter with a solid punch, which feeds into the hands of boxing’s premier defender. Mayweather is hardly a KO artist, having won five of his last six bouts by decision. This boxing match up, however, gives him the opportunity to pounce on an eager aggressive opponent like Maidana. With Mayweather’s elusiveness and slickness, he needs to bait Maidana like a mouse trap with cheese, making an illusion that Maidana has a chance to hurt FMJ, but knowing the excellent defense of Mayweather, it will prove to be Maidana’s demise.
Floyd Mayweather has said it himself he will stay in ‘front’ of Maidana, having no game plan and to slug it out with ‘El Chino’. Floyd Mayweather is very confident with his elusiveness and chin and it showed when asked at the Las Vegas press conference today: “I am looking to win,” Mayweather said. “He is going to come straight ahead. Even though he has an 80 percent knockout ratio I can’t say if his punches will be harder than Cotto.”
Mayweather has all but stated that Saturday’s bout will end in a knockout.
“I love accomplishing certain things. That’s a part of my legacy, of course, but I don’t go in there just winning this belt. I want to look impressive and I want to put on a good show and we don’t look for this fight to go the distance,” said Mayweather.
“Robert said that this guy is talking about looking for the knockout and I know that we’re looking at the fight not going the distance, so you’re going to get a helluva a fight on Saturday. I can guarantee you that.”
Against Maidana, we can expect the fight to play out for Mayweather like his 2007 match up with Ricky Hatton. Maidana, just like the English boxer, will look to apply relentless pressure during the early rounds. But Maidana may be subject to running out of gas after the first half of the fight. In this scenario, Mayweather must turn to the counterattack to set up a late knockout as he did against Hatton. I see this outcome as the best for Mayweather as he is the best counter puncher in the boxing world at this moment.
Floyd Mayweather needs to open a new bag of tricks and deliver Saturday night. Without a KO win, Mayweather will need to thoroughly annihilate and hurt Maidana to come out of the MGM Grand Garden Arena as the Mayweather we know. Otherwise, viewers who have seen this result many times before will find little reason to get excited for this outcome. Mayweather needs to impress and getting a knockout will once again cement his legacy as one of the best boxers in the last 20 years.
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