(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: A trim looking WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday in coming in at 146.5 pounds for his title defense on Saturday night against #2 WBA, #3 WBC Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) for their “Mayhem” fight on Showtime pay-per-view start at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Maidana surprisingly came in a pound under the limit at 146 pounds. This could mean that he was serious when he said that he planned on coming into the fight at a lower weight than he did last May in their first fight.
Maidana weighed 165 pounds last May and that extra 15 pounds he had over the 150. We could see Maidana bulk up overnight by rehydrating 19-20 pounds, which is what I think he’ll do. A couple of weeks ago before Maidana started cutting weight, he looked like a light heavyweight in training.
There’s little chance Maidana is going to be able to cut that kind of muscle weight in 2 weeks. We’re not talking about fat here. Maidana looked like a solid 170 pounder 2 weeks ago, and there’s no way to take off muscle like that without starving of running miles and miles each day.
“I’m going to fight hard and throw a lot more punches,” Maidana said. “It’s going to be difficult. Floyd’s a hard fighter to beat.”
“The first couple of rounds I went to the ropes,” Mayweather said about his first fight against Maidana. “I won. You live and you learn.”
When asked by Showtime what he plans on doing differently this time, Mayweather said “Probably throw more combinations.
Maidana’s trainer Robert Garcia said “We’ve got to do everything to beat Mayweather. We’re going to pressure him and throw a lot of punches.”
In the co-feature, WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz weighed in at 121 pounds for his fight against his former sparring partner Manuel Roman. It’s a mismatch setup by Santa Cruz’s adviser and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions. Roman weighed in at 122 pounds. This fight is likely going to wind up very similar to the mismatch last month between WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia and lightweight Rod Salka.
Like that fight, Santa Cruz has been matched up against an opponent in a division below him instead of someone from his weight class. The only difference here is that Roman is technically a contender at #13 WBC, but obviously we’re talking about a fringe contender and not a highly ranked guy. So in other words, Santa Cruz is fighting a smaller guy from near the bottom of the bantamweight division instead of the super bantamweight division where he fights at.
IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez weighed in at 135 pounds for his title defense against Mayweather Promotions fighter Mickey Bey. This is a fight that Vazquez will likely win unless Bey can raise his game considerably.
Official weights:
Floyd Mayweather 146.5 vs. Marcos Maidana 146
Leo Santa Cruz 121 vs. Manuel Roman 122
Miguel Vazquez 135 vs. Mickey Bey 134.5
Alfredo Angulo 162 vs. James de la Rosa 161.5
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