(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Allan Fox: This time WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) isn’t going to be content with just going out looking to win by a decision in his rematch against Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs).
Mayweather wants to score a knockout this time because he feels like that’s the best way for him to make a statement in this fight and show boxing fans the difference between him and Maidana. Mayweather wants to leave Maidana on the canvas and not able to answer the 10 count.
“I need a knockout and I’m going for it. I need it to make a statement. First for myself, I want to do it for me,” Mayweather said on Wednesday.
To be sure, Mayweather lost a lot of cache from his fight against Maidana last May. Mayweather didn’t perform up to his normal standards, and it hurt him in terms of his popularity. Boxing fans abandon fighters quickly once they show that they’re no longer invulnerable, and that’s what’s happened with Mayweather. He showed weakness against Maidana despite beating him, and now fans are wondering if Mayweather still has it.
I believe even Mayweather isn’t sure whether he still has it not because if he really believed that he did then he wouldn’t have decided on fighting Maidana a second time. That move was made out of insecurity by Mayweather. He didn’t need to do it, and yet here he is fighting Maidana a second time for no other reason but to try and do a better job of if the second out.
Mayweather said “The first fight was very interesting. Hopefully this time around the fight is even more exciting. Maidana is always in top shape. He absolutely deserves this rematch. I commend him for stepping up and making it happen again. I’m a true champion and a true champion never backs down.”
Mayweather of course wouldn’t back down to a second fight against Maidana because it’s not as if he lost the fight. The only thing that Mayweather needs to do to win on Saturday is to make sure that he stays in the center of the ring and boxes Maidana instead of slugs with him, because obviously it was a bad decision by Mayweather to punch with Maidana the last time he fought him. Hanging on the ropes wasn’t a great idea either.
“I need a knockout and I’m going for it. I need it to make a statement. First for myself, I want to do it for me,” Mayweather said.
It’s interesting that both Mayweather and Maidana both want to get a knockout in this fight in order to prove themselves from the last time they fought. Maidana just needs a win period because he can’t afford to lose another fight against Mayweather at this point.
It’s normally not a big deal to lose to Mayweather, because he’s such a popular fighter. But losing twice to Mayweather isn’t a good thing, especially if one of the defeats is one-sided.
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