Does Mayweather-Maidana Debacle Signal Floyd Mayweather Show Is No Longer Fun?

When Floyd Mayweather walked out to the ring without a celebrity entourage, wearing a robe it looked like he rescued from a secondhand shop, I felt a sense of foreboding. This wasn't the Mayweather we've come to enjoy, hating or loving him with equal ardor depending on our point of view. This was "serious business" Mayweather, one out to prove a point against Marcos Maidana. 

And Mayweather's business wasn't actually all that exciting. Mayweather won a unanimous decision in a bout so dull, the dueling highlights were a recorder solo during the Argentine national anthem and a tepid controversy over whether Maidana bit Mayweather's glove.

This was an ugly fight—not just in the ring, but from beginning to end. Sports, like any other form of entertainment, is supposed to be fun. There was little of it on display Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I wonder if Mayweather is even capable of it anymore.

In the past, though a defensive stylist, Mayweather was able to make his fights the kind of spectacle from which few could remove their eyes. Boxing fans aren't built to reward fighters like Mayweather with their hard-earned money. He had to work for it, creating tension before the bouts, delivering surprises during his walk-ins and hoping they forgot about the dancing and holding he so often did in place of actual fighting. 

This time out, he couldn't even be bothered to do that much. First there was the pre-fight hype, beginning with 50 Cent's mean-spirited taunts mocking Mayweather's inability to read well and ending with Floyd's inexplicable decision to remind people he has a history of using his blisteringly fast hands on the women in his life. It made a lot of people feel dirty to be involved in the promotion, me included. 

The show itself did little to assuage that feeling. The undercard was dreadful, a collection of mismatches leading to nothing in particular. The one competitive fight, Mickey Bey versus Miguel Vazquez, was called "a snoozer" by SBNation's Brent Brookhouse, and that was, perhaps, the only critique of the bout polite enough to include in a family publication.

The main event, a rematch of a surprisingly competitive bout in May, was never particularly close. Mayweather was on his bicycle from the beginning, potshotting Maidana with a quick lead right and holding on for dear life whenever his foe was remotely in range. 

"Another exhibition of the maddeningly effective Mayweather recipe," Showtime boxing analyst Brian Kenny said after the fight. "Look, he wins this easy. I had it 10 rounds to two. He moves, he counters, he clinches. Mayweather is not here for excitement. He is here to win."

Fighter	Jabs	Power	Total
Mayweather	64/149 (43%)	102/177 (58%)	166/326 (51%)
Maidana	41/237 (17%)	87/335 (26%)	128/572 (22%)

Excitement, however, was never a real possibility. In the first fight, Maidana did well against the ropes, pushing Mayweather back and pounding away in tight quarters. Mayweather, of course, didn't like that.

"This is not the MMA. This is boxing," Mayweather told the press before the rematch. "You guys noticed. I got tackled. [Maidana] tried to knee me. I got a headbutt. I got hit with rabbit punches. I got hit with low blows, and the list goes on and on. He done a little bit of everything. That night I had to do two jobs. I had to be the boxer and referee."

USA TODAY Sports

Subsequently—and not surprisingly, due to Mayweather's drawing power and influence—the referee from the first bout, Tony Weeks, wasn't asked back. Kenny Bayless filled in. And Bayless was not about to let Maidana fight on the inside, sometimes leaping in to break the fighters before a clinch was even completely initiated.

Announcer Al Bernstein noted Bayless's quick trigger throughout the fight and after the bout called his performance "terrible." It may be overlooked thanks to Mayweather's dominant performance, but former welterweight contender Paulie Malignaggi says the referee could have had a real impact on the outcome.

"Everything would have been different if Maidana was allowed to fight inside," Malignaggi told a national television audience on Showtime. "The fight would have evolved in a different way. The fight evolved the way it did mainly because Kenny (Bayless) didn't allow Maidana to fight his fight."

John Locher/Associated Press

And then there was the bite. Or, perhaps more appropriately, the "bite." In the eighth round, with Mike Tyson in attendance and Mayweather's glove covering his mouth and preventing him from breathing, Maidana may have bit the champion's glove.

Replays were inconclusive. Mayweather attempted to show interviewer Jim Gray the damage, but if there was a mark, it was not distinguishable by the human eye. Mayweather claimed it made his left hand go numb. Maidana denied it happened at all. 

John Locher/Associated Press

"Maybe he thinks I'm a dog," he told Gray after the fight. "But I never bit him."

It was a sorry ending to a sorry night of fights. When the final bell rings ending Mayweather's career, there will be more moments like this one, sad, small and ugly, than there were moments of transcendent glory.

In his first fight with Maidana, Mayweather chose to stand and fight with a game challenger. It made fans happy, but Floyd, clearly, didn't care for it. What we got instead was a return to the Mayweather who refused to engage with an overmatched Robert Guerrero and fouled the "living daylights" out of an aging Ricky Hatton.

It's this Mayweather we will see until he finally decides to hang up his gloves. This is who he is—cautious, mean and desperate to retain his undefeated record at all costs. Like in the 12th round against Maidana, Mayweather is coasting. He's more likely to choose the easy route from here until the finish. 

Mayweather's legacy, unfortunately, is a coarsening of the culture. It's casual racism and ugly moments on reality television. Mayweather's legacy is ducking his main rival, seemingly happy never to step into the ring with Manny Pacquiao. 

Floyd Mayweather is good for Floyd Mayweather. But Floyd Mayweather is bad for boxing. It's become a niche sport during his reign. And I, for one, will be happy to see him go.