Floyd Mayweather Jr. entered his rematch with Marcos “Chino” Maidana tonight with something to prove. He left the ring a unanimous decision winner, exonerated, and still the king of the sport.
Mayweather improved his perfect record to 47-0 (26 KO’s) and retained various title belts with a masterful performance that left his challenger frustrated and without any hope of claiming a bad decision. Official scores were 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112. InTheCorner.Net scored the fight 117-110 for Mayweather.
In their first go-round last May, Maidana got the attention of the boxing world by pressing the action and making Floyd fight…really…FIGHT. And the contest was more entertaining than nearly all of Mayweather’s previous fights. There was drama and Floyd had to dig down to pull the fight out.
Tonight’s rematch was a different story.
Maidana (35-5, 31 KO’s) came out more tentative, didn’t press, rarely pinned Mayweather to the ropes, and threw far fewer punches than in the first fight.
And Floyd ate him alive.
The power of Mayweather’s punches, so often underrated, had their say on the passive Maidana. The challenger didn’t want to come in, didn’t want to get pot-shotted. But he took some very damaging shots to the head (Floyd’s precise lead right hand) and the body (both hands from Mayweather). It was a long night for Maidana and his boisterous fans.
After the first fight, Mayweather claimed he had opted to give the fans an entertaining fight. The kind of back-and-forth action that boxing fans had complained was so obviously lacking in most Floyd Mayweather fights.
Many observers didn’t believe him. They thought that the aging process was to blame. At 37 years old, Floyd wasn’t the slick boxer and precise sharpshooter that he had been his entire career. It happens to every fighter.
But tonight’s gem seems to back Mayweather’s claims, in spades. He commanded the ring and defended brilliantly.
Much was made about referee Kenny Bayless breaking the fighters quickly, stopping any in-fighting before it started. This is a fair point.
But Maidana had it mostly his own way in the first fight, with Tony Weeks as referee. Against the lead-dog of the sport. In the boxing city that Mayweather presides over as its champion of champions.
And Maidana still lost.
Maidana got a rematch. Only one other Mayweather opponent can say the same. The terms this time around were Floyd’s. Is that wrong? Who knows? This is boxing. But Maidana claimed to have a better plan this time and it clearly wasn’t the case.
Kudos to Marcos Maidana. He gave two Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights intrigue that many of the 45 previous encounters lacked. He made the first one interesting and gave fans a reason to watch the second.
But talent won out here tonight. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an all-time great and it showed from the opening bell. Floyd took a misstep in the first bout, for whatever reason. Maidana’s awkward style, age, a bad night?
Four months later, the two fighters barely belonged in the same ring. Mayweather’s that good. Still. Father Time is still out there. But tonight we saw Floyd with all of his breath-taking skills intact. On to 2015.
