Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Marcos Maidana 2

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather retained his unbeaten record and his welterweight supremacy by outpointing Marcos Maidana over 12 rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Before an announced crowd of 16,144, judges Dave Moretti and John McKaie scored the contest 116–111, while Guido Cavalleri returned a card of 115–112. Kenny Bayless was the referee. Mayweather, weighing 146½lb, retained his WBA, WBC and Ring welterweight championships, together with the WBC light-middleweight title, although Maidana weighed only 146lb and the match was conducted at the welterweight limit.

The return was arranged four months after Maidana had given Mayweather one of the hardest contests of his career. In their first meeting, the Argentine forced the champion against the ropes, threw 858 punches, and repeatedly used overhand rights and blows from unusual angles. Mayweather won that contest by majority decision, but Maidana’s pressure and physical methods produced sufficient argument for a second match. Mayweather entered the rematch with 46 victories and no defeats; Maidana, a former WBA welterweight champion, brought a record of 35–4. The champion received a guaranteed purse of $32 million, while Maidana was guaranteed $3 million.

Mayweather altered his approach from the opening bell. Instead of conceding the ropes and attempting to counter from a stationary position, he kept the contest near the centre, jabbed to the body and moved to either side whenever Maidana began an advance. The challenger was more patient than he had been in May and consequently less productive. He pushed Mayweather towards the ropes during the first round, but the champion slipped to the floor while attempting to hold, and it was correctly ruled no knockdown. Mayweather recovered his footing and continued scoring with the jab and short left hooks.

The same pattern served Mayweather in the second. Maidana pursued with the right hand but found the champion moving before he could bring his feet into position. Mayweather touched the body with the left, brought straight rights through the centre and tied Maidana up whenever the challenger reached close quarters. Maidana finished the third with a heavy right to the head, delivered at or fractionally after the bell, which briefly unsettled Mayweather. The champion nevertheless had done the cleaner work during the round and returned to his corner without lasting difficulty.

Maidana produced his best sustained attack early in the fourth. He drove Mayweather towards the ropes, struck him with a right and forced him to hold while his balance appeared uncertain. For the first time, the challenger maintained the range that had brought him success in their earlier contest. Mayweather steadied himself during the final minute, landing a straight right and an uppercut to the body before turning away. The fifth and sixth again belonged largely to the champion. Maidana tried using the jab to set up his rushes, but Mayweather repeatedly beat him to the target with single rights, left hooks, and punches to the body. Bayless separated the men promptly during clinches, preventing Maidana from carrying out much of the rough inside work which had disrupted Mayweather in May.

By the seventh, Maidana was finding it increasingly difficult to close the ring. Mayweather seldom remained on the ropes for more than a few seconds, turning his opponent or slipping away before the heavier punches arrived. The champion’s own attacks were economical rather than forceful, but his accuracy plainly separated the fighters. He scored to the body, caught Maidana entering and finished exchanges before moving beyond range.

The contest took a peculiar turn in the eighth. During a clinch, Mayweather had his left glove pressed across Maidana’s face and suddenly sprang away, complaining that the challenger had bitten his hand. Bayless stopped the action and sent the men to neutral corners but deducted no point. Replays showed Maidana’s mouth against the glove, although they did not settle the matter beyond dispute. Mayweather later said that his fingers became numb and that he had difficulty using the hand. Maidana denied deliberately biting him, maintaining that Mayweather had forced the glove into his mouth. The incident recalled the infamous heavyweight rematch between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in the same arena 17 years earlier, with Holyfield seated at ringside on this occasion.

Mayweather resumed his control after the interruption. In the ninth, he used the jab, blocked Maidana’s wide rights and answered the challenger’s advances with check hooks and straight counters. Maidana kept coming forward but followed rather than cutting off the ring, allowing Mayweather to escape repeatedly into open space. The challenger’s frustration became evident as his attacks grew less measured and the clinches became increasingly untidy.

In the 10th, Maidana pushed or threw Mayweather to the canvas during a grapple. Bayless, who had previously warned the Argentine about his conduct, deducted one point. Maidana then produced one of his strongest spells, driving Mayweather into a corner and landing a combination followed by a hard right. The champion replied with a clean counter before the bell, but Maidana had done enough to win the round apart from the deduction, leaving two judges to score it 9–9.

Maidana attempted to sustain his pressure during the 11th, but Mayweather hurt him with a left hook to the body. A low punch from the champion then caused another interruption, although no point was taken. Mayweather held, blocked and looked repeatedly towards the clock as he reduced the remaining time. The last round offered little possibility of a change in the result. Maidana required a knockout but could not trap his opponent. Mayweather circled the ring, clinched when necessary and threw only enough to prevent an uninterrupted pursuit. Sections of the crowd booed the lack of engagement, but the champion had no reason to accept the sort of exchange Maidana needed.

The scoring left little argument. Maidana’s pressure had again created difficult moments, particularly in the fourth and 10th rounds, but it never approached the effectiveness of his work in the first contest. CompuBox recorded Mayweather landing 166 of 326 punches, an accuracy rate of 51 per cent, while Maidana connected with 128 of 572, or 22 per cent. The challenger had thrown 286 fewer punches and landed 93 fewer than in May. Mayweather’s movement, counter-punching and refusal to remain against the ropes had removed the foundation of Maidana’s earlier success.

Mayweather advanced to 47–0 and had resolved whatever doubt remained from the majority decision four months before. He marked his own performance only as a C or C-minus, acknowledging that his rhythm had not always been smooth and that Maidana had landed punches he should have avoided. The assessment was severe but characteristic. It had not been an especially entertaining defence, and the biting allegation supplied more controversy than the scoring, but Mayweather had made the necessary tactical corrections and won by a margin which accurately reflected the contest.

I remember being genuinely excited about this rematch because Maidana had made Mayweather look uncomfortable in their first fight in a way we rarely saw. There was a peculiar buzz around the possibility of Floyd being beaten by a rough, looping puncher who was almost the complete opposite to Floyd.

The first Mayweather fight gave Maidana hope because his work rate smothered Floyd’s thinking time. In the return, Mayweather removed that opportunity. He stayed off the ropes, kept turning Maidana and used the jab downstairs to interrupt his feet. Maidana followed instead of cutting the ring and threw nearly 300 fewer punches than he had the first time.

The bite incident was unsavoury, although Mayweather had forced his glove across Maidana’s mouth during the clinch. The point deduction in the 10th for throwing Floyd down was more straightforward. None of it altered the result.

Mayweather won clearly. It was not his most entertaining performance, but tactically it was excellent. He had studied everything that troubled him in May and corrected it by September. Maidana remained dangerous and awkward, but the surprise had gone. Floyd knew the questions this time and answered every one.