By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA 147 pound champion Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KO’s) says he’d like a fight against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) next if WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KO’s) chooses not to give him a rematch in his next fight on September 13th.
Maidana says he thinks Mayweather will ultimately decide against the idea of fighting him a second time. But if he can’t get that fight, then Pacquiao goes to the front of his list for his next fight. Maidana says he wouldn’t change his fighting style in facing the quicker Pacquiao, as he would stick with what got him to this point.
“That would be good because Pacquiao goes to the front [of the line],” Maidana said to ESPN. “He is a fighter like me and it would be good. It would be an interesting fight. Pacquiao is a boxer, and I’m in the best phase of my career. It’s another style. I don’t know how I would [fight him], but I always fight as I’ve fought everyone. With anyone, I always go forward. My style is to go forward without changing.”
A fight between Maidana and Pacquiao is a doable one because Maidana wants the fight, and Golden Boy Promotions would likely jump at the chance of matching Maidana against the 35-year-old Pacquiao if Mayweather decides he doesn’t want to give Maidana a rematch for whatever reason. Ultimately, it’s possible that Mayweather will choose to fight Maidana again, because his win over him was not an impressive won last May, and there are a lot of boxing fans who saw Maidana as the real winner of that fight.
Mayweather believes he won, but he obviously couldn’t have been satisfied with the amount of punishment he was forced to endure in that fight. He would no doubt like the idea of fighting Maidana a second time to show the boxing fans that he can beat him easily when fighting with his own fighting style.
“That’s what I want,” Maidana said of his desire for a Mayweather rematch. “But honestly, I feel that Floyd will not give me a rematch.”
It would be a great deal for Maidana if he has a backup plan against Pacquiao if Mayweather elects not to fight him again. The money might be better for Maidana to fight Pacquiao unless Mayweather wants to give him a bigger cut of the purse for a second fight.
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