This Saturday night, from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Floyd Mayweather Jr. will make his return to the ring against the current WBA Welterweight Champion, Marcos “El Chino” Maidana.
Although the pound for pound king of boxing’s speed and reflexes have shown no signs of erosion throughout the twilight of his illustrious career, will fight fans start to see an aging fighter this weekend?
Expert trainer Ronnie Shields states that we could see an older version of Floyd Mayweather this Saturday night.
“Floyd is 37 years old now, and you never know which fight, if it ever happens, is going to be the fight that reminds you that you’re a 37 year old fighter,” states the former Junior Welterweight contender. “It might not happen, or we could see him slip this Saturday night against Maidana.”
“You just never know. But when it does happen to a fighter, it always happens in the ring. You never see it in training. By personal experience, it always happens in the ring.”
While Floyd possesses the highest ring IQ in the sport, Coach Ronnie reminds every fight fan that his success depends greatly on his athleticism and reflexes.
“Age doesn’t discriminate against anybody, and Floyd is no different than any other fighter in that aspect. It’s a very sobering thing to experience in the ring. When you can see the punches coming, but you can’t move out of the way and do anything about it, that’s when you know that father time has crept up on you.”
“He can’t be the same Floyd Mayweather unless he can use his athleticism and reflexes in the ring.”
The experienced trainer insists that everything a prizefighter goes through to prepare for an upcoming bout takes its toll on an athlete’s body. Wear and tear isn’t confined to damage taken during an actual fight.
“While training for a prizefight, even though a fighter wears headgear and bigger gloves, he still gets hit. I guarantee you that Floyd gets hit more in the gym than he does during his actual fights. All of that counts towards the overall wear and tear on your body.”
“Because you still have to push your body if you’re running, boxing, doing jump rope, exercising…it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in the gym, a fighter is still having to push his body to its limits.”
“And Floyd works harder than any fighter in the gym. He pushes his body constantly when he prepares for a fight. When it does happen, it always happens all of sudden. There could be no signs of slippage prior to a fight, but his body suddenly won’t react the way he expects it to. It eventually happens to every fighter.”
Could we see the first signs of an aging Floyd Mayweather Jr. this Saturday night against Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas?
Fight fans will have to tune in on May 3rd to find out.
