Despite a lot of clamoring over the eventual decision, Saturday night’s “The Moment” Showtime pay-per-view card was capped off with a as entertaining Floyd Mayweather fight since he fought Miguel Cotto in 2012.
Marcos Maidana was game from the start when the two took to the ring in front of the 16,268 fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and kept on the self-proclaimed “The Best Ever” all night.
Despite being the more active fighter, most of Maidana’s punches were blocked by the defensive genius that is Mayweather, so even though he threw more, a lot more, Mayweather was the more accurate fighter and deservedly won the fight.
CompuBox punch stat numbers revealed the Maidana threw 858 punches, connecting on 221 of those, which was announced as the most ever landed on Mayweather in the CompuBox era. That 26 percent connect rate is not good enough to win a decision over “Money” even if it led to the most punches “Money” has eaten in his professional tenure.
Mayweather was pinpoint accurate as he landed 230 of his 426 punches for an outstanding 54 percent connect rate. Showing why he is among one of the best ever, Mayweather knows quality over quantity should win in a fight and despite public sentiment; he was awarded as the rightful victor Saturday night.
Maidana put forth a great effort and even went as far as to demand a rematch at the post-fight press conference, to which Mayweather seemed to be somewhat open to.
“If he feels he won the fight he can get it again in September,” Mayweather stated. As Maidana’s trainer, Robert Garcia shook “Money’s” saying, “You see that? He just shook my hand for a rematch in September,” Mayweather quickly replied, “I was just shaking your hand. We got to show me how much I’m getting [paid] first.”
Mayweather admitted that he stood in with Maidana more than he usually does in his fights to give the fans more of what they want: action. Sure that is part of why Mayweather staying in their more, but you also have to give Maidana credit for trying to push the action through much of the 12-round affair.
Mayweather hopes that showing he was willing to ditch his usual defensive shutout approach to a fight will keep the fans satisfied and wanting to view more of Mayweather down the line.
“Sometimes you gotta say ‘I’m gotta to get some bumps and bruises today and give the fans what they want to see,’” Mayweather said. “For the next fight down the road they going to say you know what, Floyd gave us what we wanted to see so we coming back.”
Fans coming back shouldn’t be an issue for the 37-year-old champ as he is the sport’s biggest draw and will continue to bring viewers in droves to watch his bouts.
With just three fights left on his six-fight Showtime contract, “Money’s” time in the ring should be coming to an end in the next year-and-a-half to two years so each of his next three fights has to be chosen wisely.
Using one of those for a rematch with Maidana would be unnessessary because there are more than a few willing up-and-coming fighters who would give the pound-for-pound king a fight as good as if not better than Maidana.
Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and yes Amir Khan would all be better fights for Mayweather in his presumably last three fights.
With Khan stating at the post-fight presser that he would not be able to fight Mayweather this September due to Ramadan, his entry into the Mayweather Sweepstakes will have to wait until at least May 2015 if he can stay on the winning side of things until then.
So giving a young stud like Thurman or Porter their chance at greatness would make for a better match than a rematch that Mayweather would be out to prove a point in.
Mayweather would be back on his defensive strategy and counter-punch his way to an easy victory that fans may not like or deem as boring if Maidana is granted a rematch. Sure he could do that against anyone he faces next, but the fact that he already beat Maidana makes it less attractive at this point.
