Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Marcos Maidana will meet in their anticipated rematch in one day and both fighters will take what they learned the first time around to try and gain an advantage in the ring come Saturday night.
The MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be rocking again, as a sellout crowd is anticipated and last time that just over 17,000 fans were mainly pro-Maidana. This time should be no different as Maidana gained new fans in May when he gave Mayweather a run for his money during much of the first half of their bout.
Maidana came out strong, smothering Money May with punches and had him backing up during first few rounds of the fight. Lacking the stamina to keep such a pace up a full 12 rounds, Maidana gassed out midway through the bout and Mayweather took advantage of that and was his usual defensive self.
There are several things both fighters can do to better their chance for a win Saturday night, and here are a few of those below, starting with Maidana.
Maidana’s keys to victory
First and foremost, Maidana will have to come out and not punch himself out half way through the bout as he did in May. In Showtime’s All Access: Mayweather vs. Maidana II episodes, a lot of attention has been paid to the Argentine working on his stamina and being healthier overall.
With a personal chef cooking up meals to keep his body in top shape that will help him shed a few pounds that his camp hopes will add to his stamina. That along with the extra work put in at the boxing gym should allow Maidana to stay aggressive longer than the first time around and maybe even an entire 36 minutes in the ring if needed.
Another area Maidana can improve on to improve his chance of pulling off the big upset is trying to be less wild with his flurries. At time, especially in the beginning of the fight, Maidana was throwing just to keep punches flowing ay Mayweather. If he actually has a method to his madness, it will ensure more of those punches land, scoring him better with the judges.
Mayweather’s keys to victory
With a record of 46-0, Money May obviously knows his keys to victory in any given fight. With his ability to adapt to any fighter he’s faced within a few rounds of a fight, having a full fight’s experience with Maidana already will make him that much tougher to beat Saturday night.
Most of Maidana’s best work against Mayweather came when he pushed him against the ropes and opening up on the undefeated champ. Keeping the fight in the middle on the ring will allow Mayweather to counter punch more effectively.
With all of the talk surrounding Maidana and his work to increase his stamina, there is no better way to take the fight out of a boxer in a 12-round fight than effective body work.
With 46 fights and 46 wins Mayweather really just needs to keep doing what he has done over the past 18 years in the ring. Despite fans griping that Mayweather is “boring” because he can dodge more punches than anyone else in the sport, he has a unique ability to carry out the simplest rule in boxing, “to hit and not be hit.”
If he fights the style fight that has made him a very rich man thus far, expect win number 47 to follow at the end of their 12-round affair Saturday night.
Stay tuned to FightHubTV.com for all of the results and post-fight reaction to Mayhem: Mayweather vs. Maidana II Saturday night live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
