Mayweather vs. Maidana 2: Latest Pre-Weigh-in Predictions and Odds

Can Marcos Maidana beat Floyd Mayweather this time around? Can he knock him out? Or will Mayweather continue his dominance in the sport? And what do the odds suggest?

All are valid questions. And all shall be examined below, as we take a look at how Vegas views this fight and make an attempt to predict the outcome ourselves.

Fight Date: Saturday, September 13

Fight Time: 8 p.m. ET

Odds: Mayweather (-750) and Maidana (+475), per Vegas Insider.

Prediction

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Floyd Mayweather will win this fight. Thanks for stopping by, everyone—hope you enjoyed this article!

OK, you want me to explain my pick, too. Sure, I can do that. So here goes—boxers always beat fighters. 

Thanks for stopping by, everyone—hope you enjoy the fight!

Oh, right, you probably want more than an old cliche, too. 

In the first fight, we actually saw two different fights. The first was Maidana pressing Mayweather, crowding him and at times wildly throwing punches. Essentially, he got up in his grill and stayed there, winning several rounds and giving Mayweather as much of a fight as Money has seen in a while. 

What Maidana didn't do is knock Mayweather to the mat or really hurt him. And that gave Mayweather the time to dissect his opponent and build a game plan for the duration of the fight.

Isaac Brekken/Associated Press

And so, slowly and surely, Mayweather began picking Maidana apart. The assault that Maidana had displayed early on that had kept Mayweather off balance started to look far less effective once Mayweather implemented a plan of attack. 

As is often the case, boxing won out over fighting. 

That's the thing about Mayweather. His speed, the precision of his punching and his elite defense make him the best pure boxer in the world, and it's not really close (unless Manny Pacquiao comes knocking). You got the impression watching the first fight that the only way Maidana could win was if he knocked Mayweather out. 

And Mayweather, very obviously, is far too slippery to suffer a knockout. It could happen, but professionally, it never has happened. Neither has a loss. And the moment Mayweather does lose, he'll lose a huge proportion of his marketability, so you can bet he'll have a very careful game plan laid out for Maidana the second time around. 

For Maidana, taking on the same approach as the first fight makes sense. He'll tweak his strategy here and there, but he's gotten this far by being a brawler, not a pure boxer. Changing now wouldn't be logical. 

To be honest, it's why—despite Maidana performing well in his first bout—many people simply don't think he's in Mayweather's league. George Willis of the New York Post certainly doesn't:

"

Fighting Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) again is simply the most viable option among a depleting list of worthy opponents that doesn’t include Manny Pacquiao. Maidana did well enough to make noise about being robbed even though he wasn’t. Mayweather won three of the last four rounds to earn the victory. This is only the second rematch of Mayweather’s career. He fought Jose Louis Castillo twice in 2002, winning both by decisions.

"

And so the fight should play out similarly to the first bout, with Mayweather perhaps toying with Maidana a little earlier in this fight rather than finding himself on his heels. Very little about Maidana should surprise him now. 

And thus, very little about Mayweather's win should surprise you. He'll win another majority decision.