Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 Results: Top Moments from Title Fight in Las Vegas
When Floyd Mayweather says he's out to prove something, it's probably best to believe him. The world's best pound-for-pound fighter left no doubt about superiority in his rematch with Marcos Maidana on Saturday, winning a clear unanimous decision that will more than make up for memories of their last fight.
Mayweather moved to 47-0, with two judges scoring the fight 116-111 and another giving it to him at 115-112. While the numbers look somewhat close, the reality is that the judges could have given Mayweather nine or ten rounds without anyone blinking. He controlled the fight throughout, dancing around the ring with an in-his-prime swagger and strangely eschewing the parade of celebrities usually hanging at his hip pocket.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
There was no Justin Bieber (though he was in attendance). Lil' Wayne was out on tour with Drake. It was only Floyd and the people who have been along for the whole ride, as Mayweather seemed determined to reassert his dominance over the sport.
Maidana was also ready to switch up his style. The aggressive brawler who came charging at Mayweather time and again during the first fight was rarely seen. Replacing him was a more cerebral fighter, one who picked his spots and rarely landed the flailing, crowd-pleasing punches that endeared him to many in May. It was an admirable attempt, as the stylistic change left Mayweather a bit confused early—particularly in the first round.
In the end, though, Maidana wound up playing Mayweather's game. And no one is better at being Floyd Mayweather than Floyd Mayweather. With that in mind, let's check in on some of the best moments from Saturday night.
Mayweather Walks Alone
I'm beginning to believe Mayweather's career is one long trolling effort. The overlong intros that accompany Mayweather bouts are typically a celebrity-sighting experience. In May, everyone was convinced Drake would be joining the Money Team alongside Lil' Wayne to perform their new single. When it turned out to only be Wayne—who was performing "Believe Me" for the first time live, by the way—alongside Justin Bieber, folks were disappointed.
How could Mayweather only bring TWO of the world's biggest pop stars to the ring? I wanted THREE!
So this time, Mayweather trolled everyone. Bieber was somewhere behind the scenes with girlfriend Selena Gomez. Warren Buffett was there as an audience member. Celebs packed the MGM Grand & Casino as they always do; it was just as paying customers this time instead of as part of the posse.
The Biebs even seemingly got into the trolling act. WBC Boxing confirmed that the controversial pop star would be singing the national anthem prior to the fight. Beliebers, no doubt with their parents' credit cards in hand, ordered the fight to see their hero belt out the Star-Spangled Banner.
But when the "Oh say" was followed by "can you see," the words were not coming from Bieber but instead from Monica. Yes, that Monica. The Boy Is Mine Monica. In 2014.
I have no idea whether this was a purposeful troll. I'm just choosing to believe it was. Great stuff.
The Bite That May or May Not Have Happened
Did Maidana bite Mayweather in the eighth round? No idea. It sure looked that way on the replay, but we'll probably never know for sure.
Clenched in a fight that was obviously slipping away from him, Maidana's head went down in Mayweather's general direction and the camera angle appears to show his face on Money's glove. Because of the angle of the view, though, it's unclear whether Maidana actually bit down; there's no Luis Suarez level of obviousness about it.
"Marcos Maidana: "I didn't bite Floyd Mayweather because I had a mouthpiece on" → http://t.co/cCf7Nvge3q pic.twitter.com/RO0jshjy6i
— FootBasket.com (@FootBasketcom) September 14, 2014"
With his hand gloved, Mayweather wasn't exactly able to show bite marks, either. So the fight went on, with Maidana not losing a point for his alleged descent into Tysonism and Mayweather still chirping about the incident in his post-match glory.
“He bit my left hand, so my fingers were numb,” Mayweather told reporters. “He’s a tough competitor. I couldn’t use my left hand. But I did what I had to do.”
Maidana, for his part, alleges it was Mayweather who was skirting the rules during the incident.
“He was rubbing my eyes with his glove,” Maidana said. “Maybe he had his glove in my mouth. But I didn’t bite him.”
We'd probably need to analyze the film at Zapruder levels to get a real answer—and perhaps not even then. That said, in a fight that largely went to expectations, getting that mix of excitement was unexpected and kind of fun.
Unless Maidana actually bit Mayweather. In which case, it's bad. Don't bite people; biting people is bad.
Mayweather's Return to Form
Mayweather fights don't typically have moments. There are rarely big, sweeping hooks that land perfectly and make an opponent's legs weak. The fourth round, in which Maidana briefly and aggressively took control of the fight, was the closest thing we had to an actual boxing moment. And it lasted three minutes before the whole thing turned back around.
The most impressive part of Saturday night was seeing Mayweather back in his element. At 37, it's clear he's not the fighter he once was. No one can be. Father Time may someday be the only loss on Mayweather's resume.
That said, it's still captivating to see the best in the world do what he does best—even at 90 percent capacity. Mayweather danced around the ring for the first few rounds like he was auditioning for one of Wayne's videos. He laid waste to Maidana with his quickness.
Quick hands. Quick feet. Even quicker mind. He adapted his style to the more conservative Maidana, who landed 93 fewer punches than he did in the first fight, per ESPN Stats & Info. Mayweather landed more than half of his punches by contrast, including a ridiculous 58 percent of his power punches.
This was the Mayweather most expected to show up four months ago. He was confident, seemingly in the best shape of his career and leagues better than Maidana—a good fighter who was always punching above his skill level. If 2015 is the year Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally step in the ring against one another, this is the type of fighter Mayweather needs to be.
In May, he was stationary and sloppy. Maidana shouldn't have won that fight, but he made Mayweather look vulnerable for the first time in recent memory. Perhaps it served as a wake-up call. Perhaps the quieting of the pre-fight extravagance was a sign Mayweather is recommitting to the sport. Or, perhaps, this was one last great 12-round performance from a fighter more vulnerable than we realize.
We have eight months until we find out.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
