Marcos Rene “El Chino” Maidana might not have been the best opponent Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. has ever faced, but he certainly proved to be his toughest. Often times that is said about Maidana. His awkward style turns fights into armed conflicts. He throws buzz bombs, rockets, and mortar shots. His overhand right is the most fun to watch. It should be called an overhead right, because It resembles a mortar round. It travels high up and over, and then bombs away as it decends. If Money or TBE, as he now prefers, would have pulled back from that punch saturday night at the MGM Grand, there would have been an explosion, and his first defeat might have resulted. Instead, TBE intelligently stayed inside the punch, so at worst it would carom off the back of his dome or just whiz by.
In fact, a lot of bombs often missed their target, but Maidana sent in the infantry anyway. It came in the form of jabs, rips and clubs to TBE’s elbows, body and then head. These weren’t big shots, but like shrapnel they caused damage. TBE’s ability to counter effectively was limited. When he was able to move the skirmishes to the center of the ring, he stepped in with wind sucking jabs to Maidana’s stomach. The punch would inflict pain. TBE hoped it would bring Maidana’s high guard down, but El Chino just gritted his teeth, and kept his fortifications intact.
El Chino was victorious in most of the little skirmishes, the close in clashes, but Mayweather seemed to get the edge in this tug of war by landing the harder, cleaner shots. He was the better marksman; although, Maidana fired off more. But, his arsenal included a lot of clunkers and duds. That’s no surprise. TBE has made a career out bursting opponent’s hopes for blockbuster wins with his defensive wizardry. It’s high tech stuff, and not only does TBE impress the fans with it, the judges are charmed as well. At least two of the three were saturday night. That was all he needed to come away with a majority decision.
However, Maidana wasn’t ready to concede anything. In the post fight interview, Jim Grey asked the unmarked, seemingly fresh Maidana, if Mayweather offered it, would he agree to a rematch? Maidana was quick to say, I won the fight, and I will offer him a rematch! TBE seemed to be agreeable, if as he says the fans want it. He also clarified any speculation about possible retirement by saying he has at least two more fights coming. Maidana might be one of them. In the mean time, count on different kind of war. This time it will be a war of cross words. There won’t be any appeasement, and the hype, plugging and puffing up will soldier on.
The semi main event between Amir “King” Khan and Luis Collazo went pretty much as planned. Khan looked comfortable at his new weight in the welterweight division. He still has lightning fast speed, and packs a good wallop. Collazo just couldn’t get anything started. Either he was seeking shelter from the onslaught, or he was being held tight by Khan. Numerous times through the fight, the referee Vic Drakulich had to pry them apart. In the eighth, Collazo aimed a projectile low with the intent of inviting Khan to a little dinner dance. He wanted Khan to do a little bop hop. Referee Drakulich, intending to avoid playing favorites, penalized each one point.
In the fourth round, Collazo tried to corner Khan, and was in the process a starting a little infighting. Khan beat him to it by throwing a beautiful short right. Southpaw Collazo’s head was turned to his left, so the punch caught him on the right side of his jaw. The collision was enough to deposit him on the canvas. In the tenth, Khan put him down two more times with overwhelming bombardment, which resulted in a unanimous decision win for Khan. Now the build up for a fight with Mayweather will once again come to the head of the line. Don’t be stupefied if Mayweather interjects a prerequisite that Khan and Maidana first fight again. Then he will take on the winner!
The third fight down had Adrien “Problem” Broner sparring with Carlos Molina. Molina has no power. and provided no threat whatsoever. Broner was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted, with the exception of putting Molina away. H failed to do so. Still he came away with a one-sided unanimous decision. In his post fight interview with Jim Gray, Broner once again demonstrated that he is a complete ignoramusl Nothing he said bares repeating.
The fourth fight down was between two super middleweights, J’Leon Love and Marco Antonio Periban. Love got the unanimous decision, but not before he almost was a knockout victim. It was remarkable Love survived. He was knocked silly with a right cross, followed by numerous shots that should have put him away. But, he survived and made it to the bell. Amazingly he recuperated enough to come out and win the next round. Love was just too fast and accurate for Periban. He was impressive and demonstrated remarkable resiliency. He remains unbeaten at 18-0-0.
