By Norm Frauenheim-
LAS VEGAS – It was supposed to be easy. It wasn’t.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. got the victory that oddsmakers, pundits and just about everybody not from Argentina thought he would. But it was less than dominant. At times, it was just ugly. Marcos Maidana made sure of it in an exhausting, carpet-bomb style of punching that pushed Mayweather onto the ropes and even through the ropes.
There were few moments, it seemed, when Mayweather wasn’t on the ropes, literally and figuratively. Mayweather got the decision. But there was a qualifier. It wasn’t unanimous. It was a majority decision, meaning it fell one judge short of Mayweather’s predicted dominance.
It was a draw, 114-114, on Michael Pernick’s scorecard. Burt Reynolds had it 117-111 and Dave Mortetti 116-112, each for Mayweather. The draw on Pernick’s card opens the door for a debate about just how good the unbeaten Mayweather was in winning his 46th fight and the third in a rich Showtime contract worth a potential $250 million.
“I’d describe this as a tough, competitive fight,’’ said Mayweather (46-0, 25 KOs), who collected at least $32 million. “Normally, I like to box, but I couldn’t.’’
He couldn’t because of the inexhaustible Maidana, who walked forward in a dogged pursuit of the mythical pound-for-pound champion.
After it was all over, Maidana walked and talked like the winner. In some ways, he even looked the winner. He was unmarked, unlike Mayweather, who was left with a cut above his right eye.
“He never hurt me with a punch,’’ said Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs), who was guaranteed $1.5 million. “I thought I won the fight.’’
Maidana seemed to fight as if he were angry. Perhaps, he was, especially after a glove controversy that wasn’t settled until early Saturday. Maidana was not allowed to wear custom-made gloves that bore Argentina’s blue and white colors. The Mayweather camp objected to them, arguing they lacked the requisite padding along the knuckles.
“He doesn’t fight like a man,’’ Maidana said in Spanish translated into English for the MGM Grand’s crowd, which included a lot of jeering fans from Argentina.
Mayweather escaped with the decision by scoring with precise punches in the later rounds. From the seven through the 12th, Maidana couldn’t quite sustain the pace he had at the beginning. That left him open for counter shots and an effective uppercut. Still, Maidana had enough energy to bull-rush Mayweather in the 11th, pushing him half way through the middle ropes.
Mayweather sustained a cut above his right eye late in the fourth.
“I couldn’t see out of the eye for two rounds,’’ Mayweather said.
A left hook from Maidana appeared to cause the wound, although Maidana’s furious pace made it hard to tell exactly what landed. At times, it looked as if Maidana was trying to land just about everything, all at once.
Maidana wasted no time. In the first, the Maidana whirlwind began, dropping shots from countless angles and at a machinegun rate. Everything was a target. Mayweather’s head and hips. Even Mayweather’s left shoulder was under a sustained assault. Mayweather rolls the shoulder in what is his best-known defensive tactic. Early on, however, the roll was rare, if there at all. There was no time to initiate, much less complete the trademark roll. Mayweather was too busy ducking and leaning back on the ropes.
Mayweather didn’t eliminate the possibility of a rematch. Maidana talked as if he deserved one.
“I’m not scared of him,’’ Maidana said. “Why not do the rematch?’’
It might be in the cards.
Amir Khan restores credibility with tactical decision over Collazo
Amir Khan added pounds to his body and hope to his future.
Kahn restored some lost credibility with a poised, tactical decision over Luis Collazo in a welterweight bout Saturday night before the main event featuring Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand.
There will always be doubts about Khan’s notoriously fragile chin. Against the rugged Collazo, however, the former junior-welterweight seemed to fight as though he knew he couldn’t leave it exposed. For the most part, he used his quick feet to stay a step away from Collazo.
Byt the 10th round, his superior athleticism just proved to be too much for Collazo. He knocked down Collazo twice in the round. The first knockdown came at the end of a left uppercut as short as it was beautiful.
For Khan, the inescapable question revolved around what was next. Mayweather? Mayweather had bypassed Khan for Maidana.
“Absolutely,’’ Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) said when asked if he wanted to be next in the Mayweather sweepstakes. “Absolutely.’’
In the fourth, Khan’s hand speed exercised some Mayweather-like superiority with a short right hand that knocked Collazo off-balance and onto the seat of his trunks. Seconds later, Khan staggered him. But the tough Collazo (35-6, 18 KOs) is nothing if not resilient. That’s the story of his long career.
The knockdown seemed to embolden him. He stubbornly moved forward in an evident attempt to draw Khan into a brawl. Khan instinctively moved away, almost as if he knew he couldn’t win the kind of street fight Collazo wanted.
But the stubborn Collazo kept moving forward and kept taunting Khan in the late seconds of each successive round. It was if he was trying to wear down Khan, wear off the slick veneer on the Brit’s versatile skill set. In the eighth, it looked as if Collazo might succeed. He was penalized a point for a low blow. For a fleeting moment, Khan looked fatigued. Collazo staggered him with a right. Khan held on and was penalized a point for holding Collazo’s head.
Broner Big Winner on Cards, Big Loser with Fans
Adrien Broner talks about boos as though they were terms of endearment.
He says he loves to hear them.
He must have been happy Saturday night. Boos filled the MGM Grand Garden Arena for how he won and how he talked about it after scoring a unanimous decision over Carlos Molina, a Mexican-American from Norwalk, Calif.
“I’m the Can Man,’’ Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) told Showtime broadcaster Jim Gray at the center of the ring. “I just beat the bleep out of a Mexi-Can.’’
On a night billed as a celebration of Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo holiday, the patrons were angry enough at the slur to collectively kick Broner’s can. They couldn’t. Neither could the resolute Molina (17-2-1, 7 KOs). But somebody else will if Broner continues to fight with more showmanship than skill.
He mocked Molina in the late rounds, he looked at the crowd in almost every round and threw Molina onto the canvas with a wrestling hold in the third round. There wasn’t much time left for punches and, sure, enough he didn’t throw many. He mixed in just enough to collect a points’ victory in a junior-welterweight bout, his first since Marcos Maidana embarrassed him in December.
“It was a sparring session on national television,’’ said Broner, who showed he can insult pay-per-view customers too
Too Much Love for Periban
J’Leon Love’s story is about learning how to survive. Out of the ring. And in it.
It was a lesson Love (18-0, 10 KOs) put to good use against Marco Antonio Periban (20-2-1, 13 Kos) in the first fight of the pay-per-view portion of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana card. Love, a Mayweather-promoted super-middleweight, survived the fifth round.
A straight right from Periban turned Love’s head violently from one side to the other and eventually put him on the canvas. Periban, of Mexico City, fell back and down in the wild round, apparently from over-exerting himself in an attempt to finish Love. But Love would not go away. First, he regained his equilibrium and then the momentum with careful and precise shots from several angles and enough abundance to win a 10-round unanimous decision.
OFF TV: The non-televised portion of the card was consistent, if not exactly perfect. It went six-for-six. Six fights, six stoppages. The sixth came from Las Vegas cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti, who scored a fourth-round TKO of John Shipman (3-2, 2 KOs) of Amarillo, Tex.
Las Vegas super-middleweight Ronald Gavril (9-0, 7 KOs) remained unbeaten with a fourth-round TKO of Tyrell Hendrix (10-4-2, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles.
British middleweight Anthony Ogogo (6-0, 2 KOs) kept the KO streak going. He scored the card’s fourth straight stoppage, finishing Jonuel Tapia (8-5-1, 5 KOs) of Brooklyn, NY, in the third round.
Ashley Theopane (35-6-1, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas employed speed and precision to overcome a bigger Angino Perez (15-5, 13 KOs) for a fourth-round stoppage of the Miami welterweight. Theopane finished the bout with a succession of punches that drove Perez into the ropes.
Lanell Bellows (7-1-1, 6 KOs), a Las Vegas super-middleweight, scored two knockdowns en route to a second-round stoppage of Thomas Gifford (2-2-1, 1 KO), an Arkansas fighter who went down in the second round as though he had been hit by runaway truck.
More than three hours before Showtime’s pay-per-view telecast began, junior-welterweights Ladarius Miller of Memphis and Richard Colas opened the show. Their punches echoed throughout the empty arena. The biggest echo came from Miller (2-0, 1 KO), who scored a third-round TKO of Colas (11-3, 1 KO).
