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WBC welter champion Floyd Mayweather Jr grabbed a tiger by the tail last night as the pound for pound king was mauled over large parts of his unification clash at MGM Grand in Las Vegas with WBA champion Marcos Maidana.
Maidana shot out of the gate from the first bell, pinning Mayweather to the ropes and launching his trademark suffocating, brawling attack that took “Money” by surprise.
Mayweather was at a loss on how to deal with Maidana’s anything goes style, absorbing many overhand, clubbing shots to the head and body that made a mockery of Mayweather’s shouder roll defensive mastery, designed to nullify standard offenses.
Maidana, who apparently is unaware of the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, also targeted Mayweather with low blows to the groin and thigh, rabbit punches, forearms and elbows, with Mayweather soon joining in although to a far lesser degree. It’s amazing that Maidana didn’t have a point taken away.
When Mayweather stood center ring and maintained distance, he dominated the action, keeping Maidana off balance with jabs but was particularly lethal with a pull back counter right hand that repeatedly stung the Argentine.
But whether it was from Mayweather being unable to control Maidana or wanting to engage in a slugfest, the Las Vegas resident found himself on the ropes for most of the first six rounds.
Mayweather scored well at times with short counters but was mostly on the defensive from Maidana’s winging punches to the head that came from odd angles and the vistor’s crunching body shots.
This was the first time since Mayweather’s initial fight with Jose Luis Castillo in 2002, a full 12 years and 17 bouts, that Floyd wasn’t controlling the pace and things seemed to be at a low point for “Pretty Boy” when he was cut above the right eye from an accidental head clash in the fourth frame.
Maidana took full advantage of the lack of focus the cut produced in Mayweather, assaulting his rival in the fifth but the American regrouped somewhat before bearing down in the seventh and hurting Maidana with two spearing body shots.
From that point on, Maidana was a different fighter, somewhat tentative and largely standing off which allowed Mayweather space to operate, which the WBC champ used to full effect, nailing Maidana with lethal counter right hands that took away the WBA champion’s jab.
Maidana still stalked Mayweather and scored with a few looping lefts and rights from the outside and continued to rough up Floyd whenever the action went to the ropes but Mayweather won the fight during rounds seven through ten as his still amazing reflexes and handspeed clearly outclassed the crude Maidana.
Mayweather was clearly trying to KO Maidana as he was putting everything he had into hard punches that were catching the South American flush. There were times that Maidana appeared shaken but Mayweather doesn’t possess the kind of concussive power required to separate Maidana from his senses.
Maidana awake from his semi-slumber and made a surge in the eleventh, resurrecting his form of the early rounds and battering Mayweather on the ropes and the pair took turns scoring well in a competitive 12th round.
When the smoke finally cleared, Mayweather took two cards by margins of 117-111, 116-112, which seemed a bit wide while the third came in at 114-114, which seemed a bit generous to Maidana.
Mayweather now stands at 46-0 (26), after showing a massive heart in a very hard fight while Maidana drops to 35-4 (31), after a remarkable display of will and determination.
Both men have expressed a desire for a rematch but don’t expect it to occur as Mayweather probably only has a few fights left in his career and will likely face the welter trio of Amir Khan, Keith Thurman and Manny Pacquiao before going up to middleweight to meet Gennady Golovkin in a bid to retire at 50-0.
Speaking of Khan, 29-3 (19), the former WBA/IBF light welter titlist returned to the ring for the first time in more than a year to outbox ex-WBA welter titlist Luis Collazo, 35-6 (18).
Southpaw Collazo followed Khan around the ring, much of the time with his hands down, looking for the one big punch that would crack Khan’s shaky chin.
But Khan showed great maturity in refusing to be drawn into a slugfest, instead reeling off quick-handed combinations before spinning away.
Khan’s quickness of hand and foot were too much for Collazo, who was floored in the fourth and twice in the tenth on the way to losing a wide 119-104, 119-104 and 117-106 points verdict.
Former three-weight world champ Adrien Broner, 28-1 (22), made a successful return to the ring by posting a 100-90, 99-91, 98-92 points win after ten rounds with fringe contender Carlos Molina, 17-2-1 (7).
