Last night's fight between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana was a hell of a lot more competitive than most of us expected going in, with Mayweather pulling out the majority decision victory on scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 114-114.
Mayweather (46-0, 26 KO) fell behind early against Maidana (35-4, 31 KO), whose main strategy appeared to be going all Incredible Hulk on Mayweather, but with a pace that was frankly unsustainable, too. To Maidana's credit, he never disappeared from the fight, battling Mayweather tooth-and-nail until the very end, and physically and mentally troubling Floyd more than anyone has in years.
Maidana's calling card was his body work--he predictably had trouble landing consistent shots to the head of Mayweather, though he did enjoy some success in the first few rounds, but his body assault was constant and crushing. The in-fighting became quite dirty, with several low blows, a near catastrophic tackle through the ropes and onto the ring apron, and an accidental clash of heads that resulted in a bad cut above Mayweather's eye, the first of his long and stories boxing career.
The 13th Round
The 13th Round
At the post-fight press conference, it appeared as though we're headed for a September rematch between the two, but things could certainly change between now and the time to actually sign Floyd's next fight. A lot will depend on the demand for the fight, and whether or not the public sees a real need for a rematch, but early signs do look good.