By Ian S Palmer
The world’s highest-paid athlete will be stepping into the ring once again this Saturday September 13 when WBA and WBC welterweight king Floyd Mayweather Jr. takes on Marcos Maidana of Argentina in a rematch at the Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. The two met earlier this year with Mayweather taking a majority decision. For some fans, this return duel was warranted while others feel Maidana didn’t really do enough in their first meeting to be given another shot. Either way, he’ll be taking home another huge payday as this 12-round bout will be shown in North America on the Showtime pay-per-view network. However, fans in Britain can catch all of the action on BoxNation.
Mayweather doesn’t usually engage in rematches since he typically wins his fights quire decisively. His first fight against Maidana was a bit closer than most of his other contests though. Maidana managed to pin the American on the ropes numerous times back in May and dig his fists into the champion’s body. Mayweather landed enough clean shots to take the close decision though and remain undefeated. He’ll be entering the ring on Saturday nights with a perfect mark of 46-0 along with 27 Kos while the 31-year-old Maidana’s record stands at 35-4 with 31 Kos.
Maidana won’t likely change his game plan for this fight since he took a few rounds by stalking Mayweather and keeping on the ropes as often as possible. Mayweather will want to keep the action in the center of the ring and utilize his superior boxing skills. He’s certainly the better boxer of the two when it comes to speed, footwork, mobility and accuracy. They both have good power and solid chins and it would take the perfect shot for this fight to end in a knockout.
Mayweather doesn’t mind playing the role of the counterpuncher who can fight off of his back foot. He’s comfortable in that position since he uses his shoulder-roll defense and keeps his head moving. There’s no doubt the champion has slowed down somewhat over the years though and this is something Maidana has to jump on and take advantage of. He needs to force Mayweather into fighting the entire three minutes of every round.
Maidana needs to take the initiative and put the pressure on right from the get-go and try to smother Mayweather. But he also has to make sure he doesn’t get tagged with counterpunches as often as he did in their first encounter. Maidana will have to outland Mayweather when it comes to clean power punches and hurt him. That’s a tall order though. To d this he needs to establish a solid, steady jab, cut off the ring and go to Mayweather’s head and body with equal abandon.
Prediction
Maidana’s a better boxer than he’s given credit for, but Mayweather can adapt to any situation. It’s not in the champion’s best interests to sit against the ropes this time around, so he’ll alter his style to make sure he isn’t trapped there as often as he was in May. Maidana should still land his fair share of punches, but if he isn’t able to hurt Mayweather he’s not going to be able to be able to outbox him, so his chances of winning this bout are somewhat slim. This should still be a close fight, but Mayweather will once again land the cleaner shots and do just enough to take a relatively close decision.
