Mayweather vs. Maidana 2: Projections for Each Boxer Following Rematch Results

The rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana left the boxers heading in two very opposite directions.

With the disappointing defeat, Maidana must head back to the drawing board and find a fight that gets him back in the contender conversation. Mayweather, now 47-0, has two fights remaining on his TV deal before he truly considers retirement.

It appeared Maidana would cause Mayweather fits like he did in their first match in May. However, the rematch was nothing like the first bout.

Mayweather dominated from start to finish, winning by unanimous decision with scores of 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112. The judges seemed to be generous toward Maidana since some outlets such as ESPN.com had the fight at 119-108 in Mayweather’s favor.

John Locher/Associated Press

Despite taking the loss, Maidana has a bright future ahead of him. The 31-year-old still has plenty of fights in him and lots of time to move up into elite status.

The one thing Maidana needs to work on is his strategy in the ring and becoming more efficient. Even though he threw 246 more punches than the champ, he landed 38 less. Now don’t get me wrong— Mayweather is the best boxer of the generation, but in order to reach his level of boxing, Maidana has to be better than he was.

With a 35-5 record, Maidana still has a very good reputation, although he’ll need to bounce back nicely. The Argentine has already dismissed taking on Mayweather again. According to ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael, Maidana thought he fared better than the judges gave him credit. Maidana said, “I don't want to waste my time with a third fight. I trained with all my heart to get this type of result. This is not fair. There's not reason for another fight.”

Going forward, a good matchup for Maidana could be with American Adrien Broner. The two got together last December in a match where Maidana came out victorious.

Broner is the perfect option for a few reasons. First off, he’s American so that will easily drive up pay-per-view sales along with anticipation of the fight. Also, Broner is in his prime and ready to fight against big names consistently. Furthermore, the American wants revenge on Maidana for being the only current blemish on his 29-1 record. This potential fight would elevate both boxers.

For Mayweather, there aren’t as many options. The one name that pops into everyone’s heads is Manny Pacquiao.

Eric Jamison/Associated Press

Pacquiao-Mayweather would be the ultimate battle between two of the best boxers in recent history. The two nearly fought back in 2010, but disagreements between the parties never allowed that.

Now is the perfect opportunity for both to put on a fantastic show and put boxing back on the mainstream map. However, both fighters have huge egos and will have specific demands that could derail this potential fight again. Mayweather already stated that if they do fight, it would have to happen on “Showtime pay-per-view only.”

Another name circling around the champ is Amir Khan. The English boxer was in attendance for the rematch this weekend. Floyd Sr., Mayweather’s father and trainer, has already come out stating Khan is No. 1 on their list.

MailOnline’s Jeff Powell talked to Khan about potentially facing Mayweather. Khan said, “Floyd is looking older and slowing down. I don't just want to fight him for the money, I want to beat him.”

Now all the boxing world can do is wait and see what transpires between Mayweather and Maidana. The one thing that’s certain is there will be several interesting fights coming in the near future.