Mayweather vs. Maidana: Money's Increasing Vulnerability on Display in Win

Floyd Mayweather's remarkable unbeaten streak climbed to 46 with a win over Marcos Maidana (35-4) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this past Saturday. Money, however, took a lot more abuse than anyone is accustomed to seeing the defensive maestro take. 

Mayweather won via a majority decision. Two judges handed him a 117-111 victory with the third calling it a draw. The discrepancy of the draw card was understandable. Many rounds in the entertaining fight could've gone either way.

Mayweather wasn't expected to have much difficulty with his opponent, but it became apparent early on that Maidana would give him some fits.

Throwing endless punches with abandon, Maidana did a lot of swinging and missing, but he was also getting in some good shots. Right from Round 1, Maidana was able to consistently get Money into the ropes. Mayweather even suffered a cut over his eye. 

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Over the years, Mayweather has been able to control the rhythm of a fight with his shoulder roll. He was not able to control the angles against Maidana. As a result, he was hit a shocking amount. 

Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix passed along an interesting stat from CompuBox: 

It's not like Mayweather's defense was poor. He wound up throwing half as many punches as Maidana but landed more. 

SHO Stats passed along those numbers:

Still, in terms of the epic defense of Mayweather, this was a poor showing. Maidana appeared surprised with the ease in which he was able to get his opponent into the ropes.

"Floyd did not fight like the man I expected him to. He made me change the gloves." Maidana said in a quote captured by Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes. "I had bigger gloves and everything and I still gave him a fight.” 

Of course, none of this should be a surprise. Money is 37. He is supposed to be getting more vulnerable. 

This isn't to suggest that Mayweather is washed up. After all, this was his first fight after a completely dominant showing against the previously undefeated Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. 

What this fight did show us, though, is that Mayweather is not immune to off nights or getting pummeled like a mortal boxer.