The Fighting Floyd Effect: What a Bout vs. Mayweather Does for a Boxer's Career

Some people equate it to winning the lottery.

But you can be sure, the sort of payoff that Marcos Maidana is seeking this weekend is far better than anything you can luck into with $1 at your local convenience store.

Come Saturday, the Argentine again becomes the latest in a line of fighters deemed worthy of an in-ring audience with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., a gift that yields short-term largesse and recognition, along with a shot at perpetual glory to the one who cracks “Money’s” code.

Given where Maidana was just a year ago at this time, it’s already been a heady climb.

Back then, he was considered a capable, rugged commodity in the corridor between 140 and 147 pounds, having earned a title belt in the lighter class before falling short against the two most credible opponents—Amir Khan (UD 12) and Devon Alexander (UD 10)—on his career resume.

A grinding win over Mayweather impostor Adrien Broner last December elevated him to a new level of belted legitimacy at welterweight, and caught enough of the pound-for-pound king’s eye for him to be tapped next in line over the plaintive wails of Khan, who was relegated to undercard support.

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Thanks to the Showtime PR machine before the first match—and in no small way because of the determined push he gave Mayweather in May—Maidana has become a far more vital element in run-up No. 2, a wave he figures to continue riding even if the second result changes little from the first.

He’s clearly graduated from the Jesus Soto Karass/Josesito Lopez circuit to the big time and he’ll more than likely remain in the mix for high-profile fights for at least the imminent future, matches that will no doubt be prefaced by highlights of “Chino’s” reputation-enhancing interactions with Mayweather.

So long as he stays competitive in the post-Floyd aftermath, his PPV ticket appears punched.

It’s been a similar tale for those who’ve reached the Mayweather summit while building a brand.

“Money” has fought seven besides Maidana since lifting the PPV crown from Oscar De La Hoya in the most-purchased fight of all time in 2007, but foes like Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto had already assembled multiple-title resumes before getting their cracks.

So their post-Floyd prizes focused more on money than career makeover.

But for the three whose legacies were not nearly complete, the big date did provide a windfall.

Victor Ortiz was next after Mosley and spent three rounds trying to employ the roughhouse tack that Maidana ultimately took, before being KO’d amid controversy in Round 4. Still, in spite of the inglorious end, Ortiz took advantage of the heightened profile and had signed for a pay-per-view match with Canelo Alvarez before a broken jaw resulted in a surprise TKO loss to the aforementioned Lopez.

And even after all that, he was able to land a multi-week stint on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and was included by Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza on a short list of potential Mayweather foes as of the summer of 2013, when the network was touring to promote the Mayweather-Alvarez bout. Those chances were scuttled for good, though, when Ortiz was dumped in two rounds by Luis Collazo in January.

Robert Guerrero lost nine of 12 rounds on all three scorecards when he got his chance in Mayweather’s inaugural Showtime bout and has only fought once since. But the inactivity is as much the product of his own outside issues as it is an indictment of the “Money” afterglow, and his stock remains high enough even after the hiatus to make a short list of possible opponents for the still-climbing Khan in December.

And as for Canelo, he seems just as poised to inherit the PPV kingdom after his Mayweather loss—in which he lost 23 of 36 rounds across three scorecards—as he had before the one-sided clinic last September.

He drew more than 300,000 buys for a spar match with Alfredo Angulo and a tactical showdown with slick Erislandy Lara in his first two turns as a big-show headliner. His star power in both Mexico and across the U.S. was in full display during the press tour with Mayweather last year, and it’s got nowhere to go but up with Cotto and perhaps “Money” on deck in 2015.

If Floyd intends to stick to his two-and-done career plan, it’ll be a long line at the ticket window on Sunday.