Floyd Mayweather W MD12 Marcos Maidana
The legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr. had one of his toughest fights to date Saturday night in Las Vegas when he fended off a determined effort from a noticeably bigger Marcos Maidana to the tune of a majority decision over twelve rounds. The bout took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as seen live on SHOWTIME pay-per-view. Maidana jumped on Mayweather in the opening round with a lot of pressure but as he always does, ?Money? remained calm under fire and covered up well. Maidana was fierce in the opening rounds and much more active but Floyd remained cool and calculating and was slowing figuring out the timing landing some of the flusher single shots. In the fourth, for the first time in his long career Mayweather suffered a cut above his right eye that seemed to bother him in the stanza (note: it appeared to be from an accidental clash of heads). Maidana did well to keep up the pressure and it was definitely one of the more tense first halves of a Mayweather bout in recent memory.
Worth noting was the size advantage Maidana held in the ring after HBO announced he checked in at 165 pounds on the pre-fight scale to Mayweather?s 148. This was used to his advantage as he used his size and strength to push Mayweather back in the early going.
Mayweather started to focus on the body in the middle rounds as he mixed in good hooks and lead jabs to Maidana?s mid section. Maidana responded in kind and while his paced slowed in the fifth, he did some good body work of his own.
In the sixth Maidana?s pace looked to be slowing and Mayweather started to find his timing, exploiting the Argentinean?s defensive deficiencies. Floyd continued this in the ensuing rounds having better command of the ring as Maidana?s pace dropped from his early onslaught.
Maidana was warned for a low blow in the eighth and a fired up Mayweather continued to score with accurate shots while Maidana continued to look to press the action with his aggression.
Another factor worth mentioning is the great job veteran cutman Raphael Garcia did dealing with Mayweather?s cut. It was not a factor at all after it occurred early in the bout.
Floyd continued to dial in the accuracy in the ninth and landed some of his best punches in the fight. Maidana seemed to absorb them well, no doubt a product of his seventeen pound weight advantage. Maidana still pressed in spots but Mayweather?s accuracy was carrying the way late in the bout.
Maidana?s edge in strength was evident late into the fight as he was able to push Floyd back and thud with his shots but the cleaner shots remained coming from Mayweather. Round 10 was close but Mayweather landed one of his best shots of the bout in the closing moments.
In the eleventh Floyd worked effectively at his own pace for two minutes but in the final sixty seconds Maidana bulled him to the ropes and smothered while he thudded away. The fighters grappled and fell into the ropes halting the action briefly.
The final round was more of the same with Mayweather continuing to dictate the action in the centre of the ring with Maidana having spurts of success when he bulled Floyd toward the ropes.
After twelve rounds were in the books, the scores were read as 117-111 and 116-112 for Mayweather wtih the third card even at 114-114.
The bout ended with Mayweather having landed 230 punches to Maidana?s 220, but Floyd?s connect clip came at his usual astute 54 per cent.
FightFan.com?s Ace Freeman had the bout 115-113 for Mayweather.
