Mayweather vs Maidana glove fiasco: Team Mayweather dodging questions about red Everlast gloves (May 3, 2014)

As you've no doubt heard by now, as we're now past 3:00 am EDT on Saturday morning, Floyd Mayweather vs Marcos Maidana is still up in the air, as the fight camps have a big disagreement about the gloves that Maidana can use in the fight.

Here are the bullet points:

• Maidana's team brought a pair of custom blue Everlast MX gloves that Mayweather and his team objected to quite vehemently.
• The Nevada State Athletic Commission agreed with Team Mayweather and ruled that the blue gloves were not acceptable. They did, however, approve a pair of red Everlast gloves, a stock MX model.
• Mayweather's team also rejected the red gloves. They offered to have Maidana wear the same gloves that Mayweather will wear, which are his usual Grant gloves, which Mayweather wears due to a history of hand injuries.
• Maidana's team, notably trainer Robert Garcia, flat-out refused the Grant gloves. And as far as I know, we're still deadlocked.

Everyone has their theories and are slinging the usual nonsense insults. You can take a look at the comparison between the blue Everlasts of Maidana and Mayweather's Grants at FightHype, but this is not the actual issue, is the thing. Nevada agrees with Mayweather that those blue Everlast gloves are not legal for the fight.

The comparison now is between Mayweather's Grants and the stock red Everlasts that Nevada has approved Maidana to wear. Here's a video of Leonard Ellerbe, which says nothing you didn't read above, but note that he completely dodges the question about the red gloves:

Again: the red gloves have been ruled by Nevada as legal, but the Mayweather camp is still insisting that Maidana wear Grants. Long story short, they're pulling a power play here, or at least that's how it appears. By the commission's ruling, Maidana can wear the red Everlast gloves. Mayweather's team is trying to say they will not fight if Maidana doesn't wear the gloves they approve, which would be the the Grants.

So there are two key things to keep in mind here, and I know I keep harping on these points, but this is all clear as day and there's just no interpretation otherwise:

1. The blue gloves are not in the question anymore. That has been agreed upon by Mayweather's team objecting and the Nevada commission ruling them ineligible for the fight.
2. The Nevada commission says the red Everlast gloves are fine, and Mayweather's team is still objecting.

Right now, the issue is with Team Mayweather. Maidana's team are trying to use gloves that the commission has approved. They're dodging questions about those gloves and trying to focus on the gloves that everyone agrees will not and cannot be used.

Now as for Team Maidana, Garcia says that Mayweather's team also rejected using a pair of Reyes gloves. It's clear that they are trying to force Maidana into using the Grant gloves.

This is all pure nonsense at this point, but hey, that's what we've got. This is what is happening.

Right now, I'm still 99.5% sure the fight will go ahead, because it would be completely absurd for it to not happen. Too much money being thrown away otherwise.