You just get the feeling that this is going to be medieval.
Tactical for sure, that's a given with one of the combatants being Floyd Mayweather, the WBC welterweight champion and consensus #1 rated boxer on earth.
In accepting a declaration of war from WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana, the mighty Argentinean who just might have "Hercules" somewhere in the family tree, Floyd will put this mythical distinction to test.
It is an exam he will never forget.
I look at this fight as part of a saga that is today's welterweight universe. A vital piece in a real-life pugilistic "Game of Thrones".
If you follow that show, then you know that it weaves complexities in scintillating fashion. Taking us through a labyrinth of lies, betrayal, countermoves and innuendo, the stars - or would be Kings - of boxing's most glamorous division, will vie for that most coveted crown of undisputed supremacy, in a way not unlike the show.
This fight, which will take place after Manny Pacquiao faces Timothy Bradley in an attempt to reclaim his WBO welterweight crown, will go a long way in determining who wears "the ultimate crown".
I believe Pacquiao will defeat Bradley, thus setting the stage for what some would consider an anticlimactic battle between Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Thus, Mayweather vs. Maidana, is almost a penultimate dual for a riveting season finale.
But since our fight drama is replete with plot twists and dimensions of intrigue, something is going to happen along the way to remind us why we watch, for nothing is ever promised.
Especially Kings or their crowns.
Read More: http://www.examiner.com/article/floyd-mayweather-vs-marcos-maidana-game-of-foes
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Floyd Mayweather opens as prohibitive favorite vs. Marcos Maidana
William Hill U.S. has installed Floyd Mayweather as the prohibitive favorite for his May 3 bout against Marcos Maidana, according to senior trader Adam Pullen. Maidana, the WBA welterweight champion, is being offered at odds of +750 at the chain of sports books.
The 12-round welterweight unification bout fight is expected to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of Mayweather’s previous eight bouts, although Barclays Center in Brooklyn is a making a push to host the event.
The LVH SuperBook is waiting until the venue is announced before posting odds on the fight, but is “looking around Mayweather -1200 Maidana +750,” the same price being offered at William Hill, LVH assistant manager Jeff Sherman noted on Twitter.
Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) won the WBC welterweight belt against Robert Guerrero on May 4, 2013, and the WBC and WBA junior middleweight titles from Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 14, both in convincing fashion, even though the victory over Canelo came by a controversial majority decision.
"Money", via his Twitter and Instagram accounts on Super Bowl Sunday, asked fans to choose either Maidana and Amir Khan as his next opponent. Per USA Today, the “vote was overwhelmingly in Maidana's favor.”
In his last fight, on Dec. 14, “El Chino” (35-3, 31 KOs) was dominant in handing Adrien Broner his first-ever defeat, knocking Broner down twice and earning an easy unanimous decision.
Read More: http://linemakers.sportingnews.com/sport/2014-02-25/floyd-mayweather-marcos-maidana
The 12-round welterweight unification bout fight is expected to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of Mayweather’s previous eight bouts, although Barclays Center in Brooklyn is a making a push to host the event.
The LVH SuperBook is waiting until the venue is announced before posting odds on the fight, but is “looking around Mayweather -1200 Maidana +750,” the same price being offered at William Hill, LVH assistant manager Jeff Sherman noted on Twitter.
Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) won the WBC welterweight belt against Robert Guerrero on May 4, 2013, and the WBC and WBA junior middleweight titles from Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 14, both in convincing fashion, even though the victory over Canelo came by a controversial majority decision.
"Money", via his Twitter and Instagram accounts on Super Bowl Sunday, asked fans to choose either Maidana and Amir Khan as his next opponent. Per USA Today, the “vote was overwhelmingly in Maidana's favor.”
In his last fight, on Dec. 14, “El Chino” (35-3, 31 KOs) was dominant in handing Adrien Broner his first-ever defeat, knocking Broner down twice and earning an easy unanimous decision.
Read More: http://linemakers.sportingnews.com/sport/2014-02-25/floyd-mayweather-marcos-maidana
Manager's fingerprints all over Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana
Last month, Adrien Broner exercised a rematch clause to pursue the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn. welterweight belts that he lost Dec. 14 to Marcos Maidana.
The move was jarring to many who watched Maidana twice knock down Broner — once through the ropes — en route to a unanimous-decision victory in San Antonio.
How intently Broner (27-1, 22 knockouts) or his manager Al Haymon actually wanted that fight is a lingering question now that Haymon helped coordinate the May 3 bout between his fighters Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Maidana.
“Two things are very important to Al. One is that he wants to make sure his fighters get in the fights they want,” said Broner promoter Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions. “And he wants to make sure they get properly paid. In both of those aspects, he’s a master with no competition.”
Schaefer said that as both Broner and Mayweather eyed Maidana, it took someone “with the skill of Al Haymon to make sure everybody was going to be happy.”
The communication among Mayweather, Haymon and Broner over Maidana — who’s also managed by Haymon — will probably forever be locked away. Haymon doesn’t speak to reporters.
But the perception is that Broner exercised that rematch clause only as a face-saving publicity exercise.
Schaefer said Broner was in the mix to fight a slew of welterweights that could be on cards in late April or on the Mayweather card, including Luis Colazzo, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan and Robert Guerrero.
“The way you make fighters happy is … make sure they get paid a lot,” Schaefer said. “Why do you think Al Haymon gets all these fighters? Al knows how to move those different pieces, and he’s very good at what he does.”
Schaefer said Broner would fight “in the same time frame” as Mayweather-Maidana, but denied that any opponent had been finalized.
“Broner wasn’t happy, but you move on,” Schaefer said. “It’s a matter of getting everyone together now that we have the centerpiece. Now, we’ll put the rest of the puzzle together. That’s my task … to set those dates by the end of next week.”
It’s a good bet Haymon already knows how that puzzle looks.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-boxing-mayweather
The move was jarring to many who watched Maidana twice knock down Broner — once through the ropes — en route to a unanimous-decision victory in San Antonio.
How intently Broner (27-1, 22 knockouts) or his manager Al Haymon actually wanted that fight is a lingering question now that Haymon helped coordinate the May 3 bout between his fighters Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Maidana.
“Two things are very important to Al. One is that he wants to make sure his fighters get in the fights they want,” said Broner promoter Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions. “And he wants to make sure they get properly paid. In both of those aspects, he’s a master with no competition.”
Schaefer said that as both Broner and Mayweather eyed Maidana, it took someone “with the skill of Al Haymon to make sure everybody was going to be happy.”
The communication among Mayweather, Haymon and Broner over Maidana — who’s also managed by Haymon — will probably forever be locked away. Haymon doesn’t speak to reporters.
But the perception is that Broner exercised that rematch clause only as a face-saving publicity exercise.
Schaefer said Broner was in the mix to fight a slew of welterweights that could be on cards in late April or on the Mayweather card, including Luis Colazzo, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan and Robert Guerrero.
“The way you make fighters happy is … make sure they get paid a lot,” Schaefer said. “Why do you think Al Haymon gets all these fighters? Al knows how to move those different pieces, and he’s very good at what he does.”
Schaefer said Broner would fight “in the same time frame” as Mayweather-Maidana, but denied that any opponent had been finalized.
“Broner wasn’t happy, but you move on,” Schaefer said. “It’s a matter of getting everyone together now that we have the centerpiece. Now, we’ll put the rest of the puzzle together. That’s my task … to set those dates by the end of next week.”
It’s a good bet Haymon already knows how that puzzle looks.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-boxing-mayweather
Amir Khan was treated harshly but Marcos Maidana deserves to fight Floyd Mayweather
SO Amir Khan won but really he lost and Marcos Maidana lost but he really won.
Maidana deserved his shot at Floyd Mayweather more than Khan did, but Khan might have posed the more searching questions in the ring.
Ultimately, however, after Floyd Mayweather asked the fans to vote in a poll on his website saying he would let the fans decide who he would fight next, he went with the minority vote and picked Maidana regardless of the figures in favour of the British star.
Why he went against the grain we will probably never know.
We will likely get soundbites about how Maidana, having beaten Floyd's Lil Bro Adrien Broner and owning the WBA welterweight title, deserved his shot.
We might also be told that Maidana won a number of independent polls.
You can't dispute that. Danny Garcia aside, it is hard to see a more deserving fighter among the Golden Boy ranks that Mayweather so enjoys feasting upon.
Yes, Khan defeated Maidana in a thriller in 2010 but that was four long years ago – although, of course, that victory made the straight shootout between the two more complex.
Going in Maidana’s favour was not just the win over Broner, but that the fight will happen on the Hispanic holiday, Cinco de Mayo weekend, also known as Cinco de Mayweather in boxing parlance.
And Floyd’s ire was probably raised when an English newspaper reported the fight was on last October and again when Khan said he’d signed a contract for it earlier in the year.
No one breaks Mayweather’s news, even if it is someone else’s news. He dances to his own tune.
Khan’s enormous reach on social media would have helped keep him in the race, because Twitter, Shots and Instagram are languages Mayweather talks and he’s fluent in most of them.
More: http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/latest/feature/amir-khan
Maidana deserved his shot at Floyd Mayweather more than Khan did, but Khan might have posed the more searching questions in the ring.
Ultimately, however, after Floyd Mayweather asked the fans to vote in a poll on his website saying he would let the fans decide who he would fight next, he went with the minority vote and picked Maidana regardless of the figures in favour of the British star.
Why he went against the grain we will probably never know.
We will likely get soundbites about how Maidana, having beaten Floyd's Lil Bro Adrien Broner and owning the WBA welterweight title, deserved his shot.
We might also be told that Maidana won a number of independent polls.
You can't dispute that. Danny Garcia aside, it is hard to see a more deserving fighter among the Golden Boy ranks that Mayweather so enjoys feasting upon.
Yes, Khan defeated Maidana in a thriller in 2010 but that was four long years ago – although, of course, that victory made the straight shootout between the two more complex.
Going in Maidana’s favour was not just the win over Broner, but that the fight will happen on the Hispanic holiday, Cinco de Mayo weekend, also known as Cinco de Mayweather in boxing parlance.
And Floyd’s ire was probably raised when an English newspaper reported the fight was on last October and again when Khan said he’d signed a contract for it earlier in the year.
No one breaks Mayweather’s news, even if it is someone else’s news. He dances to his own tune.
Khan’s enormous reach on social media would have helped keep him in the race, because Twitter, Shots and Instagram are languages Mayweather talks and he’s fluent in most of them.
More: http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/latest/feature/amir-khan
Mayweather has shafted Khan by choosing to fight Maidana - Jeff Powell's verdict
Amir Khan has been royally shafted by the king of world boxing.
By anointing Argentina’s Marcos Maidana as his next opponent, Floyd Mayweather has left Khan with a broken promise and a career in need of being fast-tracked back out of limbo.
The Bolton boy was pre-selected as long ago as October to meet Mayweather on May 3 in what would have been the richest fight ever to involve a British boxer.
The process had begun a month earlier, at the Las Vegas weigh-in for Mayweather’s clash with Canelo Alvaraez, with Khan being feted on stage.
Two mornings after Mayweather won that fight in impressive fashion, on an American Airlines flight from Vegas to New York, I sat next to the key executive for his US television broadcasters.
He told me Khan had been ear-marked because he would bring something excitingly different to Floyd Jnr’s unbeaten equation – speed – but that it would be unwise for him to jeopardise the Mayweather jackpot by going through with a world welterweight title challenge to Devon Alexander scheduled for December.
Talks began soon after. So keen was Khan to clinch the fight – and so convinced he could win it - that he told his team to ‘give Mayweather whatever he wants.’
Within weeks the terms had been approved by Mayweather’s leading advisers.
Khan did as he was encouraged and pulled out of the Alexander fight, then signed the contract.
So what went wrong?
After it was detailed on this website that the deal was done in principle, that same TV magnate was quoted as denying he had spoken to MailOnline. I prefer not to believe that.
He has always been truthful with me and those reports came from American journalists irked at being caught off-guard by the revelation, which they sought to discredit.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2567479/
By anointing Argentina’s Marcos Maidana as his next opponent, Floyd Mayweather has left Khan with a broken promise and a career in need of being fast-tracked back out of limbo.
The Bolton boy was pre-selected as long ago as October to meet Mayweather on May 3 in what would have been the richest fight ever to involve a British boxer.
The process had begun a month earlier, at the Las Vegas weigh-in for Mayweather’s clash with Canelo Alvaraez, with Khan being feted on stage.
Two mornings after Mayweather won that fight in impressive fashion, on an American Airlines flight from Vegas to New York, I sat next to the key executive for his US television broadcasters.
He told me Khan had been ear-marked because he would bring something excitingly different to Floyd Jnr’s unbeaten equation – speed – but that it would be unwise for him to jeopardise the Mayweather jackpot by going through with a world welterweight title challenge to Devon Alexander scheduled for December.
Talks began soon after. So keen was Khan to clinch the fight – and so convinced he could win it - that he told his team to ‘give Mayweather whatever he wants.’
Within weeks the terms had been approved by Mayweather’s leading advisers.
Khan did as he was encouraged and pulled out of the Alexander fight, then signed the contract.
So what went wrong?
After it was detailed on this website that the deal was done in principle, that same TV magnate was quoted as denying he had spoken to MailOnline. I prefer not to believe that.
He has always been truthful with me and those reports came from American journalists irked at being caught off-guard by the revelation, which they sought to discredit.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2567479/
Promoter: Floyd Mayweather Jr. said Amir Khan lacks 'signature' win
A “very disappointed” Amir Khan is now mulling his options after getting passed over by Floyd Mayweather Jr., who Monday chose Marcos Maidana as his May 3 opponent.
Khan promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, which has assisted Mayweather in the promotion of all of his fights since 2007, said Mayweather (45-0) told Schaefer at the Lakers game Sunday night that Khan lacked “a signature” victory that would convince Mayweather to fight him.
“I explained to Amir that this doesn’t mean he’ll never get the fight,” Schaefer said. “Sometimes you go fishing and catch the big one.
“And sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t mean you won’t fish again. That fight is going to happen, I have no doubt.”
England’s Khan, a former world junior-welterweight champion who beat Maidana by decision
in the 2010 fight of the year, has lost two of his past four fights and was dropped by journeyman Julio Diaz before winning a decision in April.
Schaefer said Khan (28-3, 19 knockouts) is in the running to fight in late April to early May, either in Los Angeles or possibly even on the Mayweather-Maidana card, expected to be fought at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Schaefer said he’s trying to match a slew of welterweights against each other, including Khan, International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Shawn Porter (23-0, 14 KOs), Lamont Peterson, Luis Colazzo, Robert Guerrero, Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman, the 22-0 fighter who has a staggering 87% knockout percentage.
More: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-boxing-mayweather-khan-maidana
Khan promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, which has assisted Mayweather in the promotion of all of his fights since 2007, said Mayweather (45-0) told Schaefer at the Lakers game Sunday night that Khan lacked “a signature” victory that would convince Mayweather to fight him.
“I explained to Amir that this doesn’t mean he’ll never get the fight,” Schaefer said. “Sometimes you go fishing and catch the big one.
“And sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t mean you won’t fish again. That fight is going to happen, I have no doubt.”
England’s Khan, a former world junior-welterweight champion who beat Maidana by decision
in the 2010 fight of the year, has lost two of his past four fights and was dropped by journeyman Julio Diaz before winning a decision in April.
Schaefer said Khan (28-3, 19 knockouts) is in the running to fight in late April to early May, either in Los Angeles or possibly even on the Mayweather-Maidana card, expected to be fought at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Schaefer said he’s trying to match a slew of welterweights against each other, including Khan, International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Shawn Porter (23-0, 14 KOs), Lamont Peterson, Luis Colazzo, Robert Guerrero, Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman, the 22-0 fighter who has a staggering 87% knockout percentage.
More: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-boxing-mayweather-khan-maidana
MARCOS MAIDANA ON FLOYD MAYWEATHER CLASH: "IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE I HIT THE LOTTERY...BEATING HIM, IT WILL"
"Thanks a lot to everybody who supported me around the world! I'll give it all to give you a victory on May 3rd," wrote WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana, who addressed his followers on Twitter shortly after undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd "Money" Mayweather announced him as his opponent for his highly-anticipated return to the ring. Though Maidana is extremely happy that he landed the coveted assignment, he's not quite ready to cash in on his Mayweather Sweepstakes lottery ticket.
"I'm just happy to face Mayweather, but it doesn't feel like I hit the lottery like he said. Only beating him, it will," he added. On May 3, Maidana will get the opportunity to hit the jackpot if he can duplicate the success he had against Adrien Broner and score another upset victory over the biggest name in the sport.
Thanks a lot to everybody who supported me around the world! I'll give it all to give you a victory on May 3rd!
— Marcos René Maidana (@ChinoMaidana) February 25, 2014
I'm just happy to face Mayweather but it doesn't feel like I hit the lottery like he said. Only beating him it will
— Marcos René Maidana (@ChinoMaidana) February 25, 2014
More: http://www.fighthype.com/news/article16220.html
"I'm just happy to face Mayweather, but it doesn't feel like I hit the lottery like he said. Only beating him, it will," he added. On May 3, Maidana will get the opportunity to hit the jackpot if he can duplicate the success he had against Adrien Broner and score another upset victory over the biggest name in the sport.
Thanks a lot to everybody who supported me around the world! I'll give it all to give you a victory on May 3rd!
— Marcos René Maidana (@ChinoMaidana) February 25, 2014
I'm just happy to face Mayweather but it doesn't feel like I hit the lottery like he said. Only beating him it will
— Marcos René Maidana (@ChinoMaidana) February 25, 2014
More: http://www.fighthype.com/news/article16220.html
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