Mayweather vs. Maidana Showtime All Access: Biggest Lessons from Episode 2
Very few of the 45 men who’ve stepped into a pro boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. have managed to change his expression to much beyond bemused contentment. But if you’re curious as to what he might look like if he ever does suffer defeat, the second episode of Showtime’s latest pre-fight documentary series—All Access: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2—might have provided some new insight.
The network’s cameras tagged along as Mayweather and his usual cadre of mammoth men and buxom women sat ringside for an Aug. 30 card at the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, where promotional underling J’Leon Love was expected to take the final step before a 2015 super middleweight title shot.
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And what appeared to be business as usual for two rounds of the scheduled 10-round match quickly turned to something else when the previously unbeaten Love was caught in a corner and rendered helpless by a whistling left hook from unheralded Mexican import Rogelio Medina.
Upon cutting to Mayweather at ringside, the man known as Money was left ashen-faced.
“It’s a learning process,” he said, nimbly shifting his role from that of circus master to one of pride restorer. “S--t happens. It can happen to anybody. You’ve got to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad. That’s part of the game.”
Not surprisingly, the creative folks at the network took the surprise ending and molded it into an episode-closing theme to encapsulate the David vs. Goliath nature of the rematch, set for Sept. 13.
“No fighter is invulnerable. So was this a reminder or an omen?” narrator Barry Pepper asked weightily. “For years, Floyd Mayweather was considered unsolvable and Marcos Maidana inscrutable. But mystery and awe dissipate over 12 rounds. These two know each other.
“One is underestimated, the other undefeated. For one of them, it will never be that way again.”
Hard Work, Dedication
Love Mayweather or loathe him, it’s difficult to argue with the fact that, even at age 37, he’s significantly closer to his peak than all but the rarest breed of great fighters. Much of that has to do with a work ethic that’s still front and center, even after the fighter has accumulated enough money to feed multiple generations of both his own family and his perpetually burgeoning entourage.
The episode focused on that point in its opening stages, which showed Mayweather on one of his signature late-night/early-morning runs, while a training partner struggled to keep up on foot and the ever-present hangers-on stayed close either on bicycles or riding shotgun in a Rolls-Royce.
Appropriately blaring from the luxury car’s stereo: Lionel Richie’s 1983 hit, "All Night Long."
“I bust my ass. I work my heart out to be my own boss, to make my own moves,” Mayweather said. “I dedicate myself to my craft. Once I saw I could make $100 million in boxing, I said ‘I will become the best.’ Once you put that check in my face and I see all the zeroes, I’m a perfectionist.”
Fighting Fire with Fire
Running counter to Mayweather’s training/boasting montage, the episode checked in with Maidana to find his camp augmented by the appearances of his trainer’s brother—multiple lower-weight champion Mikey Garcia—as well as his father, veteran corner guru Eduardo Garcia.
All pointed at Maidana’s May performance and suggested one thing: more ferocity.
“I want to see him do as well in the 12th round as the first round, or even better,” Eduardo Garcia said, backed up by scenes of Maidana doing hill work with weighted vests to boost his long-term stamina. “Conditioning is what’s most important.”
The team as a whole agreed, with Robert Garcia going over punch outputs to remind his charge of the task at hand. Meanwhile, Mikey Garcia emerged from a sparring session with Maidana and suggested the underdog is more relentless in preparation for the second match than he was for the first.
“It’s not just ferocity. It’s strategy,” Robert Garcia said. “We’re switching a few things around. That’s what will allow a fighter like Maidana to give trouble to the best in the world.”
Doing Time in the Doghouse
As it’s been in past episodes previewing past fights, much of the most compelling content for this go-round came out of the interplay between fighters at Mayweather’s Las Vegas gym.
This time around, it was amateur prospect Donovan Cameron exchanging words with former 154-pound title claimant Ishe Smith and then getting in the ring to pound on Sharif Rahman, the 18-year-old son of ex-world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman.
Not pleased about the beating Cameron laid on his little brother and the gloating he did about it afterward, the younger Rahman’s cause was taken up by another of the former champion’s sons—Hasim Rahman Jr.—who ultimately got the better of Cameron after the two went at it for what Mayweather said was a continuous 31-minute round.
“It’s about pushing these fighters to the limit. The rules are that you fight until whoever quits,” he said. “It’s about pushing to the limit, and it’s about the last man standing.”
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained from Showtime's All Access: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2, Episode 1, which aired on Sept. 6, 2014.
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