Mayweather to fight Maidana on May 3rd – Breaking news!!!!

By Boxing News - 02/24/2014 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Just moments ago, WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) announced on his twitter site that he’ll be facing WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) in what will be a unification bout on Showtime pay-per-view on May 3rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The decision ends the anticipation and the endless debate of who Mayweather will be facing.

There never was much doubt that Maidana was the more deserving fighter for Mayweather to face next instead of Khan, because Maidana is coming off of a big win over Adrien Broner, who many fans see as “Little Mayweather” and he was very impressive in that fight. It makes a lot of sense that Mayweather should fight Maidana next to avenge Broner’s defeat and show what the real Mayweather can do against Maidana.

For Khan, it’s a crushing blow to his career because this would have been the perfect cash out fight to end his career with. Now Khan will have to try and make up for lost time and pray that he doesn’t have his career ended prematurely by one of Golden Boy’s fighters. With Khan looking terrible even against weak opposition at this point in his career, he could be finished off as a serious contender if he loses another 1 or 2 fights. Khan thought he had the fight with Mayweather wrapped up after having won a poll on the Mayweather Promotions website. The fact that Khan didn’t get the fight is a sign that Mayweather couldn’t stomach the thought of having to face three months of harsh criticism. Regardless of Khan winning Mayweather’s poll, fans everywhere absolutely hated the idea of Khan getting the fight against Mayweather instead of the more deserving Maidana.

Mayweather is making his third fight in his contract with Showtime, and he’s picked the opponent who he feels will give him the best chance for him to get the attention – and likely PPV buys – that he needs for this fight. Facing Khan would have been a risky thing for Mayweather because it might be the equivalent of fan repellant. That’s not what Mayweather wants. He wants to interest fans, not turn them away in droves. Khan had his time in the sun, but he’s looked like a fading fighter during his last four fights, and it would be pointless for Mayweather to face someone like him at this point. Maidana is the more solid choice for Mayweather than Khan, and it was a smart move by him to select the tough Argentinian fighter.

“I extremely happy to be facing Floyd Mayweather because it will give me the opportunity to show the world that I am the best welterweight in the division,” Maidana said via ESPN. “I just handed a great defensive fighter [Adrien Broner] his first loss and I plan to do the same to Mayweather. I don’t care whether he’s the best and undefeated. I will bring some real Latino power to him on May 3rd.”



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