Floyd Mayweather Jr. Is Still the King of Boxing Despite Age

As the clock continues to tick toward the expiration date on Floyd Mayweather's reign atop the sport of boxing, the Money spectacle has become, in a word, boring.

Although that hardly means he has lost a step.

Saturday, Mayweather did what he does, putting on a defensive fight to put down Marcos Maidana in their so-called "highly anticipated" rematch by unanimous decision. But the flair was gone.

No extravagant entrance. Hardly any taunting.

The biggest entertainment in the ring was an alleged bite by Maidana and the knee-slapper of a night referee Kenny Bayless put together (he was horrible).

"Another exhibition of the maddeningly effective Mayweather recipe," Showtime boxing analyst Brian Kenny said, per Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden. "Look, he wins this easy. I had it 10 rounds to two. He moves, he counters, he clinches. Mayweather is not here for excitement. He is here to win."

Indeed, Mayweather was as business-like as we have seen him as he goes toward the 50-0 mark. He was a sniper shooting proverbial fish in the barrel that night, only truly endangered in Round 3 thanks to a lucky Maidana connection that wobbled his knees.

Fight in hand late in the match, Mayweather danced more than ever before clinching, clearly content to coast and pick up the win from the judges. The result was about as expected, as noted by SI.com's Chris Mannix:

Again, just don't mistake the diminishing entertainment value of Mayweather's sheer dominance, because it is still just that.

Per Andy Glockner of The Cauldron, Mayweather threw all of 326 punches Saturday night, but he landed a ridiculous 51 percent. For comparison's sake, as silly as it is, Maidana threw 572 and landed just 22 percent.

When he was not causing Maidana and his ill-advised quantity-trumps-all approach to whiff with alarming frequency, Mayweather was connecting on almost 60 percent of his power punches.

Not that it was all that apparent to the naked eye. Maidana's spam-happy ways en route to more than 800 punches thrown in the first fight was enough to pique the general public's interest in a rematch, as his cries of being robbed appeared to hold some sort of merit despite also only landing in the neighborhood of 20 percent there, too.

That's what it's about for the aptly nicknamed Money. Mayweather isn't stupid—he understands that his style is not a crowd-pleaser and that it has continued to wear thin with the general public.

It would explain why Canelo Alvarez was booked to the moon and back as some sort of threat, when those in the know simply snickered at the thought.

The same goes for Maidana and the subsequent rematch—Alvarez didn't get a rematch because he was so abused in the first match that no amount of hype would have done worthy financial numbers.

Maidana got his, though, and Money made his money while getting a very beatable opponent. Once in the ring, pay-per-views bought, the notion of providing entertainment goes out the window.

Mayweather is already back at it again, claiming after Saturday's win he is more open than ever to a bout with Manny Pacquiao, as FightNights.com documents:

So it goes.

It is hard to imagine the next opponent is Pacquiao. Like his demeanor in the ring, Mayweather is calculated and cautious. The 50-win mark is within reach, but like most of his recent fights, there will likely be unwarranted hype that leads to a lopsided affair and bored fans.

Like it or not, Mayweather's magical work in the ring that leaves opponents harmlessly slapping air is still the best spectacle the sport has to offer, and few possibilities exist in the form of potential matchups that will make for an interesting bout.

While controversy surrounds Mayweather outside of the ring, in it, nobody does it better. The tried-and-true formula has lost its luster, but certainly not its effectiveness. In that, there is plenty to appreciate.

Stats and info via Showtime unless otherwise specified. Purse info via ESPN.com.