LAS VEGAS ? Floyd Mayweather was tired.
His lip was fattened and he drank water gingerly around the cut. His fingers ached, the product of what he claimed ? and television replays seemed to confirm ? was a bite Marcos Maidana applied to his left glove. He had been 12 hard rounds with Maidana, making 24 they shared this year, and the unanimous-decision victory assured him only that he would never have to see the Argentine again.
But that’s not all, not by a longshot.
Mayweather dominated Maidana by scores of 116-111 twice and 115-112, while almost everyone on press row had even wider margins. He did almost exactly what his father told him ? trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. actually said he would have liked a few more jabs but praised the performance otherwise ? and gave Maidana a lesson in ring generalship.
So he’s tired of Maidana, yes.
He’s tired of four fights in the last 16 months. He’s tired of the silly rivalries with musicians. He’s tired of the media fishing for answers to trap questions that, for whatever reason, he chose to answer ? badly, it’s worth adding ? and for whatever reason, his public-relations handlers didn’t adequately quell.
So he handled the question about his lawsuit against him by ex-fiancee Shantel Jackson easily last week, as if he knew it was coming ? which he did ? then a few moments later gave an answer to the Ray Rice suspension that lasted four troubling minutes, reverberated societally, seemed as if it came out of left field even though it was clearly going to be asked of the world’s greatest fighter who additionally has a lengthy history of domestic abuse, and probably cost Mayweather-Maidana II a tidy piece of business when pay-per-view buyers were forced into their $75 decisions.
Video: MLive.com’s analysis of Floyd Mayweather’s win over Marcos Maidana MLive.com’s David Mayo and Josh Slagter break down Floyd Mayweather’s victory over Marcos Maidana on Saturday night at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He looked an older 37 at the post-fight podium than he did in the ring Saturday night.
He has warred with seemingly everyone he has encountered in this sport, 24 championship fights, and a whole lot more outside the ring. Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao and Rachel Nichols and Larry Merchant and his once-upon-a-time his father ? even his old buddy 50 Cent ? are at top of the short list of feuds.
Add 16 fights in four months since signing his Showtime contract, and an entire summer spent with this tough guy from Argentina, including comparatively disappointing (by Mayweather standards) pay-per-view sales estimated at 900,000 for the first Maidana fight, on the heels of last year’s record-setting rake with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Tack on the added responsibility Mayweather Promotions took in the hands-on promotion of this rematch, and it wasn’t just Maidana who worked over Mayweather recently.
“People think that it’s just you train and you just fight,” Mayweather said. “It don’t work like that when you’re at the pinnacle. It’s something totally different. You go city to city, state to state, sometimes you go out of the country, to promote an event of this magnitude. When I do a commercial, I have to read 70 teleprompters. It takes a lot but this is what I chose to do.”
He has two more times, at least, to do it.
Mayweather could be retiring at this time next year, if he chooses not to fight beyond the two remaining bouts on his Showtime deal.
Pacquiao is the fight everyone wants and Mayweather didn’t dismiss the question when Showtime’s Jim Gray asked it immediately after Saturday’s fight ? “If the Pacquiao fight materializes, let’s make it happen,” he said in the energetic aftermath of 12 grueling rounds ? but was more subdued in his post-fight press conference a few minutes later. Floyd Mayweather lands a punch against Marcos Maidana. Josh Slagter | MLive.com
“We don’t know what the future holds,” Mayweather said.
Is it realistic to think a five-year freeze could thaw within the next few months, in time for Mayweather-Pacquiao next May?
“What’s realistic is I’m 47-0,” Mayweather offered.
He said he felt sharper in the May 3 fight with Maidana, a majority decision that spawned the rematch, but that his “defense was a lot better and my legs were a lot better” the second time.
He took the fight to the middle of the ring, where Maidana looked lost, and spent more time using his legs on the perimeter than he has since his 2006 welterweight title bout with Carlos Baldomir ? the fight before the De La Hoya bout which propelled Mayweather to superstardom.
“Just being able to show the versatility, being able to change up, having the experience,” Mayweather said of his key tactical adjustment. “You know, I’ve been in big fights like this for so many years, so I know what it takes.”
Maidana, protests aside, bit Mayweather on the left glove in the eighth round, and the champion said his first three fingers on that hand were numb the rest of the way.
He was tackled in the 10th round, and for the only time in their 24 rounds together this year, a point was deducted when Kenny Bayless dinged Maidana for the infraction.
Mayweather came to his press conference in a hoodie. That can’t help him hide, of course.
Nothing can.
That’s a big part of the fatigue too, he noted earlier last week, when he said he would just like to be able to leave his home without being recognized.
That will never happen. But once he retires, the hubbub will subside a little bit.
It’s getting closer every day.
“Just being in the sport 18 years, boxing is wear and tear on your body, of course,” Mayweather said, explaining his obvious weariness. “It’s a grueling sport. But like I said, it’s another fight, another victory and it’s time to move on.”
