Floyd Mayweather once again proved that his position at the top of the boxing tree is beyond doubt as the American picked apart yet another challenger in Marcos Maidana on Saturday night.
The central talking point of the fight, though, will forever be an eighth-round incident involving what looked to be a bite by Maidana to Mayweather’s hand as the boxers engaged in one of several clinches.
An audible yelp could be heard as Mayweather backed away from the Argentine following an obscured tangle, after which the pound-for-pound best complained profusely to referee Kenny Bayless. At this point, it was unclear whether the fight would go on, but Bayless admitted to Mayweather that he did not see what happened and could only offer to keep an eye on Maidana as the fight continued.
Earlier, Mayweather had started well and was at his majestic best at times when circling, staying away from the ropes, and countering Maidana at will. The only problem Mayweather faced was at the end of the third when an accurate shot right on the bell seemed to shake ‘Money’ to his boots and slow him down in the next round.
Mayweather vs Maidana
Maidana then jumped on Floyd for the early part of round four but could not sustain an attack for long enough, and Mayweather reverted to his original tactics the moment ‘Chino’ began to breathe heavily.
In the end, I could only give Maidana two of the twelve rounds, with one even, although one of those was taken away when Bayless deducted a point for a blatant shove that put Mayweather on the canvas.
Judges’ scorecards came back reading slightly closer at 116-111 (twice) and 115-112, with my verdict being a comprehensive and convincing 118-110 victory for Mayweather – who defended three world titles at two weight divisions on the night.
Asked after the contest whether a fight with Manny Pacquiao could be next, Mayweather would only say that he would see what can get done if the Filipino comes through Chris Algieri in his next bout.
On the possible bite, a downbeat Maidana stated that ‘Mayweather may have had his hand in my mouth, but I didn’t bite him,’ in response to Showtime interviewer Jim Gray’s question.
