By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: Floyd Mayweather Jr’s victory over Marcos “Chino” Maidana sparked new conversation, brought in more Floyd haters, and left fans a little weary about the way the fight was refereed. I will break down each part down. First the fight itself. In their first encounter, Mayweather declared before the fight that he was going to be in the pocket and was going to stand toe to toe with Maidana. He did.
Mayweather languished on the ropes more allowing Chino to wail away with punches. However, when Floyd pushed the fight to the center of the ring, he popped his opponent at will. Having seen Floyd lay on the ropes allowing his opponent to tire himself a bit and waste punches (Hatton, Cotto, Castillio 1st fight) and fights were he walked opponents down; boxed and moved (Mosley Judah, and Canelo), I said the rematch will be different. And it was. Floyd stayed away from the ropes and kept the fight in the center of the ring and the punch stats speak for themselves. Floyd landed 51 percent of his overall punches to Maidana’s 22.
Kenny Bayless and Tony Weeks. In the first fight, Maidana was allowed by Tony Weeks to commit every dirty tactic in the book. Team Maidana said on several occasions, even on Showtime’s All Access, they have stated “this is the way we fight (dirty)”. Floyd said he would be right in front of Chino to be hit and he was.
Chino landed over 200 punches. So what did I expect? Both camp issued statement and both lived up to them. In the rematch, Kenny Bayless was very quick to separate the fighters with Floyd doing most of the clinching. This tactic could have worked against both fighters, but it affected Chino the most. Most will argue that Bayless was pro Mayweather. Then I can certainly make an argument that Weeks was pro Maidana. So as far as I am concerned, the two fighters are even.
What I do find hilarious is how some people claimed that Floyd lost the first fight and he wouldn’t rematch Chino. They said Floyd went life and death with the Argentine because of Chino’s aggressive style. Even with Tony Weeks letting Maidana get away with his dirty tactics, Floyd still found a way to win. Even with Bayless quickly separating the two fighters quickly, Floyd still found a way to win. And simply believe he will do until he retires.
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