Floyd Mayweather vs Marcos Maidana on May 3rd
Floyd Mayweather photo by Anna John for StiffJab.com
by Gautham Nagesh
On Monday Golden Boy and Mayweather Promotions made official what we had long expected: Floyd Mayweather Jr. will return on May 3rd against Argentine knockout artist Marcos Maidana on Showtime Pay Per View. The 12-round unification bout marks Mayweather’s return to the welterweight division, after earning the true junior middleweight championship of the world by dominating Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in his last fight.
The fight will most likely take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but their remains the tantalizing possibility of a late push from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It’s unlikely the bout will generate the same excitement as Mayweather-Alvarez, because Maidana is mostly a known quantity, and not in the same class as Floyd. But the Argentine has showed new life of late, and might be the hardest-punching welterweight Floyd has fought to date.
As such, Maidana has at least a puncher’s chance, though we wouldn’t be lining up to bet for anyone but Floyd in this fight.
“Marcos Maidana’s last performance immediately brought him to my attention,” Mayweather said on Monday, his 37th birthday. “He is an extremely skilled fighter who brings knockout danger to the ring. I think this is a great fight for me and he deserves the opportunity to see if he can do what 45 others have tried to do before him – beat me.”
Maidana has improved under the tutelage of trainer Robert Garcia, but not enough to really challenge Mayweather. Still, Chino might make it interesting for a few rounds, and if he can catch Floyd with one of his powerful overhand rights, he might be able to put him on the canvas for the first time in his career. As Adrien Broner recently found out, Maidana is no joke. If nothing else, he will try to win the entire fight, which is more than we can say for some Mayweather opponents of late.
Unfortunately Maidana has struggled against pure boxers in his career, losing a convincing decision to Devon Alexander and a close fight to Amir Khan. Mayweather is the purest boxer left, and despite his refinement under Garcia, Maidana has considerable holes. He should be wide open for the Mayweather right hand all night, and Floyd may be able to hurt Maidana with a body shot, as Alexander did.
When considering Mayweather’s clear superiority and the ongoing cold war between Top Rank and Golden Boy, there wasn’t really any attractive opponent for Mayweather in this fight. Manny Pacquiao would have been the natural choice, but we don’t need to get into all the reasons that fight hasn’t/won’t happen. Top Rank fighters like Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov are similarly off the table, while Golden Boy hopes Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman are probably still a couple fights away from the biggest stage. That leaves Maidana, Khan, Alexander and some less than inspiring options like Shawn Porter
One could argue that Cuban southpaw Erislandy Lara would be the most dangerous opponent for Floyd, but I can’t blame Mayweather for wanting to return to his natural welterweight division for a stay-busy opponent. This will be the third fight of his six-fight deal with Showtime, which means there will be plenty of time for the likes of Lara, Garcia, and even Broner. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Floyd take a shot at the lineal middleweight championship against the winner of Sergio Martinez vs. Miguel Cotto later this year. That kind of win could place him firmly among the Sugar Rays and Pernell Whitaker as one of the best pugilists of all-time.
Unfortunately I’ll be relaxing on the beaches of Ft. Lauderdale that weekend, so even if I watch the fight, it will be strictly as a fan. Rest assured, we will still bring you full coverage of the build-up and festivities, and one of our capable writers will step in to cover the show on fight night. A Mayweather fight is always the biggest event in boxing for the year, until the next one. Consider the boxing year officially underway.