One Hit Wonder: Maidana's chance against Mayweather

Marcos ‘El Chino’ Maidana, the bull from Argentina who sports a record of 35-3 with 31 wins coming by way of knockout, has worked his way up the boxing ladder due to hard work, brave heart and punching power.

Marcos Maidana always comes to fight, and has persevered and overcame adversity on his way to become one of the most exciting fighters in boxing today. He packs a wallop in both hands, and with the exception of one or two occasions, he was never involved in a dull fight.

After taking the brash and then undefeated champion Adrien Broner to hell to snatch the WBA welterweight belt, Maidana won the biggest sweepstakes of them all -- the megafight tonight with the current pound-for-pound king Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather, Jr. for the WBA, WBC, and Ring welterweight belts and then some.

But the boxing world has already written him off and proclaimed that Mayweather will just waltz through him en route to 46-0 to maintain the American champion’s unblemished record and move on to another fight in his quest of being The Best Ever (?) in the history of the sport.

They say that Marcos Maidana is no match for the skill and talent of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and that Money will just blitz El Chino with his blinding hand speed and dazzling footwork to carve out the customary lopsided UD victory that is the hallmark of every Floyd Mayweather, Jr. victory.

Yet Marcos Maidana is unperturbed by the odds stacked against him for he believes in himself; he knows how to handle pressure, get out of a bad situation, and come back to win the fight. Most of all, El Chino has confidence in the power behind his fists that have brought him to where he is now -- the biggest fight of his boxing career.

Marcos Maidana’s list of victims is not as impressive as his foe’s, but is quite solid. The list includes Victor Ortiz, Victor Cayo, Jesus Soto Karass, Josesito Lopez and Adrien Broner, just to name a few. After tonight’s fight, the Argentine banger wants to add to that list the biggest fish of ‘em all -- Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

But that is easier said than done considering that “45 have tried and 45 have failed” against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Marcos Maidana is “not as talented and skillful” as the American superstar and will surely be outworked and outclassed as pointed out by many boxing observers -- that’s why he is a huge, huge underdog in this fight.

There is one thing that is going for Maidana in this fight, though: unlike many of Floyd Mayweather, Jr’s opponents in the past, El Chino is not afraid nor in awe of Mayweather’s mystic as a fighter and aura of invincibility because El Chino believes in himself -- that he will be the one that can blemish Mayweather’s immaculate record.

So, the question that will be answered tonight is: can Marcos Maidana do it?

It will be a very long shot, but Marcos Maidana has the shot that can drop an opponent with one punch, and Floyd Mayweather’s chin has not been tested this much since Shane Mosley cracked and penetrated the pound-for-pound king’s vaunted defense in 2010.

And yes, as they usually say, “if you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it’s OK.”

Note: any comments, reactions, suggestions are welcome. Hit me up at detexam@yahoo.com or join us at Detroit Boxing Examiner Facebook Page.

*This article was first published on Detroit Boxing Examiner

There is no stopping Pacmania

It was reported that the Manny Pacquiao- Shane Mosley welterweight championship megafight at the MGM Grand Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on May 7th has sold more than 16,000 tickets in just 3 hours after its opening, making it one of the biggest ticket runs in Sin City's history.

No matter what the critics say about this fight, Manny Pacquiao has earned his due and boxing fans love to see his fights, perception of mismatches or not.

As they usually say, the boxing fans have spoken.

HBO and Golden Boy dissapoints boxing fans again

The HBO and Golden Boy Promotion's extravaganza held at the Staples Center last Saturday night did exactly what the promoters wanted and expected at the gates but the main event did disappoint. The undercards did have some fireworks on the surface, but in reality if you dig and look deeper, they were nothing but just set- up fights to enhance the image and pad the records of Oscar de la Hoya's wards.

The show was dubbed 200: Celebrate and Dominate in honor of the bicentennial of Mexico's Independence Day was headlined by Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora in a junior middleweigt bout. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Victor Ortiz, both proteges of the Golden Boy, were also in the cards to further enhance the Mexican flavor and entice the huge Mexican community to spend their night at the fights.

HBO and Golden Boy did everything to maximize their earnings for the said fight. In the weeks prior to the event, they employed several boxing scribes to help them hype the fight. They tried to make it appear that it was a big and significant event that is worth everybody's time and money. They did everything to sell it and hoped the gullible boxing public bites it.

Yes, they had it for $50 on the cable network's pay-per-view and $20 on the big screen in selected theaters all over the country, not to mention the top $200 price at the Staples Center. If they did succeed and earned a huge profit from it, it remains to be seen though.

But the truth of the matter is, the fight card was not pay-per-view material at all.


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Mayweather- Mosley: Fool's gold?

After an excruciating delay, which could be attributed more to the promoter’s calculated moves to hype the fight, rather than Floyd Mayweather, Jr.‘s seeming reluctance to face Shane Mosley, he finally inked the contract that will put the two protagonists in an All- American welterweight extravaganza on May 1st in Las Vegas.

It is a fight that should have been fought earlier in their respective careers. It is a fight that many boxing fans have been waiting for although it was 10 years, or so, late, so to speak. Still, people in Michigan are excited to see this fight finally happens.

Mayweather-Mosley is not the biggest fight out there that everybody wants to see but it is a fight that most boxing fans can live with. So, whether we like it or not, we still need and want to see the fight with the hope that the eventual winner will trade punches with P4P king Manny Pacquaio later in the year.

For Sugar Shane who has been dogging Mayweather for a fight, it is a sweet testament that patience is indeed a virtue albeit with some help from two different forces combining to finally land him his long- cherished wish: Mother Nature wherein his fight with up and coming superstar, Andre Berto of Haiti, was canceled when the Haitian was unable to concentrate on his training because of the huge tragedy that occurred in his homeland, as well as from Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino superstar who Mayweather was about to face in a mega fight on March 13 until huge egos and disagreement over drug-testing protocol put the said fight temporarily on the wayside.

For Money Mayweather, after talks of his mega fight with Pacquiao collapsed (wherein boxing fans blamed him more for its demise than Pacquiao and the Pacman moving on and electing to fight the tough Ghanian Joshua Clottey in Texas) and with rumors that the IRS is breathing on his neck and debt payments accumulating in his midst, Money May was left with no other choice but to fight the next best fighter out there to salvage his sagging reputation (being labeled a cherry picker and a coward for running away from opponents that can give him a run for his money) and earn some moolah on the side to tide him over for the time being. It is also a fight that could silence his critics even temporarily for despite glowing credentials inside the ring, his opponent Mosley is no longer spring chicken and was not the fighter that he used to be at 39 years of age.

So is this supposed ‘mega fight’ for real? Will it live up to the billing of a super fight? Will it help Mayweather earn the respect of his peers and fans alike?

On paper, with the support of a giant network like HBO and a plethora of boxing writers sympathetic to their cause, it has the making of a huge Pay-Per-View event pitting two Americans with enough name recall to sell the fight. It is a fight with great promise if both fighters want it to be.

But despite all the hype and the obvious scripted dramas that are being peddled to us, this so-called mega fight may disappoint rather than excite and could just be a big waste of money especially if the fighters will come to the ring unwilling to wage a war. This fight will become a stinker and a bore if the fighters would rather dance the night away than engage in a real firefight.

But make no mistake about it: the American boxing public will no doubt shell their hard-earned money to support the fight for they are hungry for an American to carry on the torch that many great American fighters like Ali, Leonard, Hearns and Robinson, just to name a few, carried before them in a sport that they used to dominate.

And since many are that hungry to re-live the American glory days in boxing, it will be easy for the dream weavers to weave their tales that many will be gullible enough to buy, turn a blind eye and justify a fight without drama as a showcase of what the sweet science is all about- that is to run around in circles, pop a few jabs here and there, and with ‘great defense‘, try not to get hit by your opponent inside the ring as the epitome of a ‘great fighter‘.

But a huge PPV success is not always synonymous with a Great Fight.

In the past, they could peddle a ho-hum fight and get away with it. In this day and age of a down economy people tend to hold on more to their money; that’s why fight fans will not tolerate a so-so fight and would want more value for their money.

Mosley’s record as a fighter speaks for itself. We also know how skilled a fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is and what he is capable of. That’s why in a fight of this magnitude, people expect that both fighters will bring their best at fight time and are clamoring for a really exciting fight worthy of the millions that the fighters will earn in the process.

But being a highly-skilled fighter doesn’t give one the license for an easy way out, in this case. And unlike in the amateurs, people want to see in professional boxing a highly-charged and entertaining fight. They want the protagonists engaging in a fierce battle with each other at the center of the ring like the gladiators of yore.

So, the question really is, will Mayweather-Mosley live up to its promise?

Or will it be another robbery of epic proportion?

Food for thought: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”


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