Can Maidana beat Mayweather?

By Boxing News - 07/25/2014 - Comments

mayweather555By Gavin “neds” O’Connor: On September 13th, Marcos Maidana and Floyd Mayweather Jr will be meeting in a rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first fight produced and provided many talking points and opinions on both sides that are still beings “debated” with a high degree of emotion.

From the fans points of view there is a strong belief amongst Mayweather’s fans that the tactics employed by the unbeaten champion were calculated and for the fans benefit and entertainment going “toe to toe” with the hard hitting Argentinean and adjusting in the later rounds to incorporate more success after weathering an early storm of “dirty” tactics from Maidana.

On the other side the Maidana fans believe that the younger champion was unlike many before and not prone to Floyd’s intimidating presence. He had no fear of Mayweather’s power.

Maidana displaying little respect, and believing the fact that Mayweather is just as “dirty” as himself in the ring. And add to the mix the belief that Mayweather looked to have aged.

Now to The rematch and what has Maidana learnt to help him where many have failed. Mayweather’s power would not appear to be a concern as evident in the first fight with Maidana coming forward the hole night with no marks and looking the more confident.

Better selection and more controlled punching is needed with a still high punch rate for Maidana. He needs to life his punch connection percentage slightly, as that would be a good start.

Maidana is not and never will be a class counter-puncher like Mayweather; He lacks the timing and technical ability. But if he can somehow use Floyd’s narcissism against him as a countermeasure and improve his timing slightly, it could work for him. With Maidana’s natural power advantage, he could somehow beat Mayweather if he increases his work rate and accuracy.

Timing may just play a bigger part in this fight than any other factor, and more so if Mayweather has lost the ability to do this. He’s got to be able to time Maidana as he’s coming in for him to find success in this fight. Without the ability to time Maidana, Mayweather will have problems.



Comments are closed.