Marcos Maidana (35-4, 32 KOs) isn’t buying what he’s hearing about WBA/WBC Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) improving for their next fight on September 13th by making changes in his game so that he’ll beat Maidana with ease in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Maidana thinks Mayweather can change, but he also expects to change and improve so anything Mayweather can do to improve will be cancelled out with what he’s doing. Maidana doubts that Mayweather will be able to box much better than what he did last time, because the pressure that he plans on putting on him will ultimately get to him.
“He [Mayweather] can change and get better, but I can also change and get better,” Maidana said to reporters last Saturday night. “The only thing he can change is to box, but that’s what he was doing in our previous fight. What is he going to do more running? I’m always looking for the knockout. I’m going to go in and try to knock him out. He’s not as good as people think. I was able to pin him to the ropes and throw a lot of punches. He’s not as difficult or invincible as people think.”
Mayweather will try and move a lot more in this fight in the early rounds than he did last May in their previous fight, but it’s not realistic to assume that he’s going to be able to move for the full 12 rounds.
Mayweather doesn’t have the legs to move more than a few rounds at best, and he probably won’t want to fight like that anyway because of the potential for boxing fans to lose interest in the fight and start booing the non-action.
About the best thing that Mayweather will be able to do in the rematch is to simply stay off the ropes for the full fight. If he can make a change in that one are, he’ll help himself out dramatically in this fight. But the big question is can Mayweather fight in the center of the ring for 12 rounds? I have my doubts. I believe Mayweather went to the ropes the last time they fought because his legs needed the rest. He’s not gotten any younger since last May, so it’s quite logical to assume we’re going to see Mayweather with his back against the ropes in a second fight against Maidana.
