Mayweather vs Maidana 2 Fight Card: Full Lineup and Predictions for Entire Event
Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana are scheduled to fight Saturday night. You know this. I know this. With a promotional push akin to a worldwide save-the-church bingo night, I would assume most of the general populous does as well.
What hasn't been discussed? The other human beings who occupy the fight card before Mayweather and Maidana. While not the tricked-out mega card some were expecting a few months ago—rumors of high-profile secondary fighters proved unfounded—there is still be plenty of talent adorning the undercard.
Leo Santa Cruz will take on Manuel Roman in a bout for the former's WBC Super Bantamweight title, Miguel Vazquez goes against Mickey Bey for the IBF Lightweight championship and Alfredo Angulo versus James De La Rosa rounds out the pay-per-view card. Showtime will also be showing a match between John Molina Jr. and Humberto Soto as part of a pre-card event.
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Vazquez and Bey are receiving a ton of attention, which seems only right given the former's status among pound-for-pound fighters. Vastly underrated—OK, probably completely irrelevant—to the mainstream, Vasquez is one of the most technically sound fighters on the planet. Santa Cruz and Roman should also put on a good title fight for those who appreciate the the bantamweight class.
Overall, the card lacks a little bit of the punch from the first night but should still be solid. With that in mind, let's quickly preview each fight on the pay-per-view card.
The Undercard
Alfredo Angulo vs. James de la Rosa
For Alfredo Angulo, this could be either a career-breaking or career-reigniting fight. The 32-year-old Mexican heads to Vegas at the nadir of his professional career. After starting his career with 20 wins in his first 21 fights, he's dropped three of his last five bouts, including ugly back-to-back losses.
Erislandy Lara earned a stoppage last June after breaking Angulo's orbital bone in his left eye, creating one of the more cringe-worthy boxing injuries in recent memory. Canelo Alvarez then used him as a human platform to regain his mainstream status in March after an embarrassing loss to Mayweather. Angulo, who might have beaten Lara had he not been injured, has nonetheless been stopped in his past two fights.
“I don’t feel any pressure at all. September 13, I’ll be a strong fighter, I’ll give the fans a great comeback,” Angulo said, per Eastside Boxing's Rob Smith. “I can make 154 pounds but not comfortably. It’s time to move up to 160 pounds. I didn’t learn anything from the Canelo fight because that night I wasn’t me, I wasn’t there.”
The odds are certainly in Angulo's favor against James de la Rosa, who has lost two of his last four fights. The former competitor on The Fighter earned his spot on a Mayweather undercard by handing Fabian Reyes his first career loss a little more than a month ago.
That turnaround between bouts is scarily quick. Though De la Rosa mostly dominated against Reyes en route to a seventh-round stoppage, it's difficult to imagine him being both properly rested and prepared. Angulo is a dangerous man, and he'll be fighting at a comfortable weight. This feels like a knockout.
Prediction: Angulo def. De La Rosa via KO in 7th Round
Miguel Vazquez vs. Mickey Bey
Miguel Vazquez should win this fight. Despite Mickey Bey's sterling overall record, it shouldn't even be that close. Vazquez is a superior fighter in nearly every sense, a boxer's boxer whose style is among the most off-putting in the sport.
Putting him on a Mayweather card is almost perfect. It's as if the Money Team wanted to thumb their nose at any casual fans who have ever discarded his style as being "boring" because it features footwork and defensive brilliance over knockout flair.
Vazquez makes Mayweather look like Mike Tyson by comparison. He is the Sam Bradford of boxers, dinking and dunking his way through fights with an almost complete lack of power punches. OK, I guess that's an unfair comparison. He'd be the Sam Bradford of boxing if Sam Bradford were actually a great NFL quarterback.
The 27-year-old Mexican is undoubtedly a brilliant in-ring technician. He's won 13 straight bouts, all but three of which have gone the distance. Peppering his opponents with jabs and strong footwork, Vazquez is an expert at keeping himself out of harm's way.
Bey has the Mayweather Promotions banner but doesn't register much on the radar. His fights have mostly come against middling jobbers who have made careers out of pushing guys to the pay-per-view card. The most impressive fight of his career might have been against John Molina, who wound up defeating Bey via TKO after being dominated for the first nine rounds.
I don't see Bey having the skill—outside a one-punch knockout—to take down Vazquez in a fight that should go the distance.
Prediction: Vazquez def. Bey via unanimous decision
Leo Santa Cruz vs. Manuel Roman
The deeper one delves into this card, the more it becomes apparent we're likely headed to four straight favorites coming out on top. Leo Santa Cruz has experience on a Mayweather card, has never lost a bout (he has one draw—the second fight of his career) and has started to gain some steam within the boxing community.
Signing with top-notch adviser Al Haymon typically does that for a fighter.
Like Vazquez, Santa Cruz does not have the most aesthetically pleasing style; he relies on footwork and ring smarts, picking his spots wisely and rarely acting as the aggressor—even against a lesser fighter. While there were probably logistical reasons behind the card, it really does seem like Mayweather wants to kill this "boring" narrative and bury it in a grave so deep it can never come back.
To his credit, Santa Cruz has been much better at sensing when he can finish off a fight. Four of his last seven fights have ended before their scheduled length, including three referee stoppages. Cristian Mijares lost a unanimous decision to Santa Cruz in March, helping him set up this co-feature.
Manuel Roman, by contrast, is on this card for reasons of which I am not entirely sure. He has never been in a 12-round fight, only has a couple 10-rounders under his belt and is not seen as an up-and-coming star. His pedigree is arguably worse than any other boxer on the pay-per-view card, though he was particularly impressive in a win over John Amuzu last September.
Still. This fight feels like the old-school wrestling move of putting the future star over. Expect a star-making performance from Santa Cruz.
Prediction: Santa Cruz def. Roman via TKO in 10th Round
The Main Event
Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana
The surest thing in sports is predicting a Floyd Mayweather victory. Forty-six fights, forty-six victories. He's more reliable than an Eli Manning turnover.
Many people hope Mayweather loses; his personality and antics outside the ring make him one of our culture's most polarizing athletes. Many of those people willing Mayweather to lose do so in order to bask in the schadenfreudian glee whenever he does.
No one actually thinks Floyd Mayweather will drop his first career bout to Marcos Maidana. Their first fight, for all the fuss it got nationally for being closer than expected, was just that. Closer than expected. Maidana, largely anonymous to the mainstream world, was considered by many a tune-up fight for another huge September blowout.
That he stuck with Mayweather for a while—at least long enough for so that the judge who gave him a 114-114 split did not have to resign from his post the way C.J. Ross did after the Alvarez bout—was impressive. It earned him a boxing unicorn: a rematch with Floyd Mayweather. Maidana will also be a main event draw or close to it for the next few years; Mayweather opponents don't come out of the deal too shabby.
In practice, the second fight should swing even more in Mayweather's favor.
Almost from the moment the final bell sounded in May, Mayweather has been calling out Maidana's less-than-honorable tactics. There were low blows, an accidental headbutt and a few other borderline actions from Maidana that could have led to docked points but didn't. With Mayweather calling attention to those very things, they're not going to pass this time.
I'd be shocked if Maidana were not docked a point within the first few rounds. He knows the only way to have a chance is to keep Mayweather out of rhythm. While there will be adjustments, the only way Maidana was able to gain an upper hand in the first fight was with his aggression. Toeing the line was his best chance.
With months to prepare and the realization Maidana isn't a pushover, Mayweather should come in ready to go. We'll see the judges scorecards again, but this time there won't be a question about the victor.
Prediction: Mayweather def. Maidana via unanimous decision
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