The “Money” train is still rolling after Floyd Mayweather Jr. earned a hard-fought majority decision of Marcos “Chino” Maidana Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Mayweather (46-0, 26 KO) found himself in a real scrap for the first time in quite a while as his opponent repeatedly forced him to the ropes and reigned furious flurries of punches from all angles. Despite entering the bout as a 12-1 underdog, Maidana (35-4, 31 KO) stayed true to his word to bring the fight to Mayweather the entire night.
Mayweather suffered a nasty cut over his eye in the fourth round as a result of a headbutt. The 147- and 154-pound champion was noticeably bothered by the blood dripping into his guy. The undefeated champion repeatedly pawed at his eye and complained to the referee while Maidana sought to capitalize on a rare moment of vulnerability by Mayweather. Rafael Garcia, Mayweather’s cutman, did a tremendous job of treating the cut and after the fifth round, the cut seemed to be a non-issue for Mayweather.
That’s also around the time Mayweather, a master of in-fight adjustments, began to figure out Maidana’s rough and relentless style. During the middle rounds, Mayweather began to land more clean counter punches and lead right hands. While his opponent was the aggressor for 90% of the fight, Mayweather was the more accurate fighter, landing 54% of his 426 punches, compared to Maidana’s 26% of 858 according to CompuBox. In terms of total landed punches, it was nearly even with Mayweather just edging Maidana 230 – 221.
The entire affair was strangely exciting and exhilarating for a Mayweather event. Unlike many Mayweather opponents, Maidana was not deterred by Mayweather’s precision punching or his own inability to catch Mayweather cleanly on a regular basis. Maidana just kept coming forward, hurling jackhammer right hands, clubbing right hans, body digging hooks, low blows. Maidana appeared to nearly knee Mayweather in the fact and almost tackled him through the ropes during an off-balanced clinch.Â
Mayweather was not afraid to match Maidana’s crime with gritty tactics of his own as he repeatedly put a vice grip lock on Maidana arms and neck. Mayweather also repeatedly pushed Maidana’s face with the lace side of his gloves and even held onto the ropes at one point to prevent referee Tony Weeks from breaking a clench. It wasn’t the usual Mayweather boxing clinic, it was a real fight.
Instead of moving and keeping the fight in the middle of the ring where he had a clear and distinct advantage, Mayweather continuously retreated to the ropes and allowed his opponent to unleash a barrage of punches while he accurately unleashed his counter attacks.
When it was time to announce a winner, fans were legitimately unsure of the verdict, which could not be said in a Mayweather bout since his victory over Jose Luis Castillo in 2002 (first bout).
In the end, Mayweather was awarded a majority decision victory with scores of 114-114, 116-112, 117-111. Maidana and his fans were dissatisfied with the defeat, believing his hard-punching and aggression should have earned him the nod. Despite the wide margin of the 117-111 score, it was truly a bout that could’ve gone either way. Still, there was no controversy, only a close and exciting fight. Both fighters deserve kudos, and for his efforts, Maidana deserves a rematch.
