What Can Marcos Maidana do to Make Floyd Mayweather Earn his $32 Million?
by Matt Gerovac
Tomorrow night, Floyd Mayweather will make $32 Million and Marcos Maidana will make $1.5 Million. So, first I must ask, who is Maidana’s agent and how in the world did they get him to agree to this blatant shafting? I understand the business of boxing. As the big ticket box office draw, Mayweather is the reason “The Moment” will be so lucrative. But, as Maidana assumes the same risks stepping into the ring, why should he make such a small fraction of the money?
All shady boxing business aside, let’s examine what Maidana can do to make Mayweather earn the Rolls Royce Limo rides, $500 shoes, and blinged-out TMT gear. Maidana says he will be persistent from bell to bell. That is exactly what he needs to do. Mayweather will undoubtedly display his unparalleled boxing aptitude. He will move wherever he needs to to get out of the way of Maidana’s assault, while shooting enough pesky jabs, sneaky straight rights, and slick counter hooks to steal rounds.
Maidana’s key is to remain relentless. Much like he did against Adrien Broner, Maidana would benefit greatly by starting low with shots to the body. Mayweather, of course, will be in great shape. But well-placed body shots can pay dividends in the championship rounds.
Once Maidana lands hard shots to the body, hopefully some shots will open up to the head of Mayweather. But, this will take patience. Maidana cannot get frustrated if he is not landing as crisply as he would hope. If he misses, he has to forget about it because, if he shows frustration, Mayweather will know he’s been had.
Notice, I never said anything about a Maidana victory, because it’s just not going to happen. Maidana’s best chance to improve his standing in the boxing world is to simply have a good showing against Mayweather. Nobody since Zab Judah or Shane Mosely has even looked like they had a chance against this master pugilist. If Maidana can compete, land some shots, and at least make it interesting , his stock could rise even in unavoidable defeat. Just ask Robert Guerrero or Canelo Alvarez how quickly Mayweather made them go from world class to no class in a matter of a few rounds.
With 31 of his 35 victories coming by way of knockout, Maidana has as good of a puncher’s chance as anybody. If he could somehow connect with one punch that puts Mayweather down for the count, that is his only hope for victory. But, even a fighter with Maidana’s power usually knocks guys out with an accumulation of punches, not just a single shot. Mayweather showed a lot of heart and intestinal fortitude when he was hurt early by Mosely. He took a few shots, but didn’t lose his wits. He kept his guard up, weathered the storm, and ended up making Mosely look like an amateur that just got lucky.
Everyone is going to continue to make pay per view purchases of Mayweather’s fights, holding on to the unrealistic hope that he will eventually fall. But, all of this is by design. Until Mayweather has to fight someone he is not comfortable with stylistically, we’ll continue to make his pockets fatter and his record more inflated. With the prospects of a clash with Manny Pacquiao becoming less and less of a reality with each passing day, someone is going to have to step up and demand a chance to erase the “0” in Mayweather’s loss column. But, it’s not going to be Marcos Maidana.
