Photo credit: Jeandra LeBeauf/BadCulture.net
LAS VEGAS, NV – Since the conclusion of Saturday’s night main event featuring Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana, I’ve received no shortage of opinion on the fight, the sport, and the man. Of course “the man” is pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather.
Fans of the sport, whether you like him or not, have to give the victory to Mayweather. Remove your biases, your feelings and your preconceived notions of who you think the man outside the ring is and limit your per view to what happened last night inside the ropes. While Maidana landed flush shots that visibly shook the champ, he simply didn’t land enough of them to secure a victory. If it’s one thing fight fans know it’s you have to win in convincing fashion if you want to dethrone a champion. We are now 17 long years into the reign of King Mayweather and it’s clear the only key to victory is a knockout. Maybe he should drop the “Money” moniker in favor of ‘Atila the Hun’. Floyd ‘Atila the Hun’ Mayweather.
After two attempts, Maidana becomes a footnote in Mayweather’s career. One line in the record books can have an asterik (labeling him as giving Maidana the toughest fight of his career) and the second match-up removed any doubt of Mayweather’s prominence.
As Maidana and Mayweather made their way to the media room for the post-fight press conference the lack of energy from the gathered crowd and the combatants, cast a funeral-esque dark cloud on the proceedings. The victor and the loser were equally somber in their respective addresses and did little to instill confidence in their supporters. Accompanied by his trainer, manager, and the Holy Virgin, Maidana spoke with quiet control and not the same post-defeat energy he had in the first match-up. Taking his place the dais, he rattled off the now familiar check-list opponents follow in their interview responses after the fight is complete.
Floyd ran, he did enough to win, and now he wants some time off to examine his options. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Mayweather entered, with quiet calm, a swollen lip and sunglasses. Absent were the signature “all work is easy work chants” and echoes from the peanut gallery.
He won. Why so serious?
Without question he won and in a more decisive fashion than the first fight. If you didn’t see the fight and judged the outcome by his behavior, you would be convinced he lost or the result was close. He spoke briefly of the fight but spent a great deal more time talking about the alleged bite in round 8 and his concern/non-concern for Manny Pacquiao.
Ok well what about the fans? Mayweather fans basked in the victory and continued waving TBE/TMT gear while chanting and heralding the champion as they stampeded the lobby and indulged their fickle enthusiasm. Once the night is over, they will return home to their everyday lives only to pay little to no attention to boxing the sport until the next pay-per-view event (Mayweather raised eyebrows when he mentioned good numbers and Showtime would have no trouble waiting for him to make a decision. Leonard Ellerbe’s final word was there will be a May fight). As Chino Maidana fans left, they continued to wave the Argentine flag and screamed robbery. They commiserated between groans, postulated about a corrupt boxing institution, besmirched referee Kenny Bayless officiating performance and questioned whether or not Maidana really bit Floyd in round 8.
Two different sides, and both lacked any real intensity, passion and fervor. Something we usually see after it’s all said and done. The aftermath was about as ho-hum as a trip to the grocery store on a non-payday Friday.
Happy to be there, but not really getting what you want.
Jeandra LeBeauf is the creator of the boxing and lifestyle site www.BadCulture.net, boxing correspondent for The Boxing Channel and content contributor toBeatsBoxingMayhem. She also hosts the boxing podcast “The Ruckus” every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 