On Saturday night Floyd Mayweather did what he was supposed to do earlier this May – dominate Marcos Maidana. The rematch billed “Mayhem” turned out to be anything but, as boxing’s pound for pound king pitched a near shutout in front of 16,144 fans at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.
Mayweather, clearly more focused this time around, kept the match in the center of the ring and moved or held to avoid taking punishment from his slower, plodding opponent. Other than a flush right hand Maidana landed at the very end of the third round and a bizarre hand biting incident in the eighth, this was pretty much a glorified sparring session. Punch stats tell the story, as the Argentinian slugger threw more, but landed at less than half the rate than Floyd did. Marcos landed just 17% of his jabs (41-237) and 26% of his power punches (87-335), while “Money” landed 43% of his jabs (64-149) and an astonishing 58% of his power shots (102-177). It was target practice, and Floyd’s holding and mauling tactics quelled “Chino’s” attack. Compare that to the first bout, where Maidana threw almost as many power punches (540) as he did total punches (572) in the rematch.
Regarding the biting incident in the eighth round, Floyd detailed,” we were in a clinch, and he bit my three fingers (on my right hand). From the eighth round to the end of the fight, my fingers was numb, so that’s why I was using my legs a lot more.” Maidana flat out denied the incident. “Maybe he thinks I’m a dog, but I never bit him,” he said. “He was rubbing my eyes that round. He may have had his glove in my mouth, but I never bit him.” Surprisingly, Chino also claimed he won the fight. “If the judges want to give the fight to fighters that run, they can give it to him,” he said. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought that I was the aggressor.” The video seemed to clearly show Maidana biting Mayweather. Even more clear, Money May decisively won.
So now that his 24 rounds of 2014 are in the books, what lies ahead for Floyd in 2015? Predictably, he was asked about Manny Pacquiao only minutes after hearing the final bell Saturday night. “I’m gonna go and talk to my team and see what the future holds,” said Mayweather. “I don’t know who I’m fighting in May but I expect to fight in May. Manny Pacquiao needs to focus on the guy in front of him (Chris Algieri). Once he gets past him, he can look to the future. If the Pacquiao fight presents itself let’s make it happen.” Later on during the post-fight presser Floyd gave further insight, “if the fight do happen, it has to happen on Showtime pay-per-view only, and Mayweather Promotions have to do the fight.” His last sentence on the subject really got people excited. “As of right now I’m gonna take a break, spend some time with my children, and then see who’s next in May. Hopefully it’s Manny Pacquiao.”
While boxing fans won’t exactly hold their breathe on a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout finally coming to fruition, it’s clear Floyd wants to up the ante in what he promises will be his final year in the ring. Negotiating mega-fights seems to be tougher than getting a bill passed in congress these days, but perhaps cooler heads will finally prevail.
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