Floyd Mayweather Jr announced that his opponent for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 3th will be Marcos Maidana. After the usual Mayweather shenanigans over who the opponent will be, ‘Money’ settled on the re-do with the Argentinian Maidana for various reasons.
The books seem to think Maidana has little chance, as he is returning (+525) to Mayweather’s odds of (-700). It may serve as motivation to Maidana that after his excellent performance in their first bout, there are few out there that think he can match his performance.
Here is the problem for Maidana. Matching his performance from last time is not enough, he needs to improve on it. He recently fought Adrien Broner, who was an hot, undefeated prospect. Maidana prepared well for that fight, came in at his best and implemented the same game plan he used on Mayweather. Beyond unorthodox, Maidana comes at you throwing punches from all angles, and it got to Broner.
The win over Broner earned Maidana the fight with Mayweather the first time, and he came in focused, motivated and fit. It would be by far his biggest payday, and to his credit, Maidana elevated his game, but he fell short against Mayweather.
The common thinking is that it will be Mayweather who makes adjustments to his game based on their first fight, and that it is the Mayweather camp that will bring another level to this fight, not Maidana. It makes sense, the idea being that Maidana threw everything he had at Mayweather the first time, and Mayweather still settled in and out-boxed him.
This time, the outcome is expected to be more definitive for Mayweather. Maidana is going to come in fit and motivated. What is in doubt is whether in the end, Maidana will have the same basic game plan with minor adjustments. Maidana is unlikely to have the adjustment up his sleeve that helps him get over the top against Mayweather.
Mayweather knows that in order to impress, he has to come in and put Maidana away. Mayweather in the end, is a technician and a student of the game. They will break Maidana’s game down and if MAyweather comes in with the right amount of killer instinct, he could make a statement by ending Maidana’s run with a KO.
