Mayweather wants Maidana rematch
Just before the April 12 rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, boxing scholar and lawyer Ed Tolentino was talking about an interesting fight scheduled in early May.
It was a world welterweight unification title fight featuring the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Argentine Marcos Maidana, the WBA champ.
“Watch out for this fight because it will give us a sneak preview of the much-awaited bout between Mayweather and the Pacman—if that ever happens. Maidana is a younger version of Manny,” Ed said.
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Despite Ed’s eager anticipation, nobody was paying attention to the bout, which guaranteed Mayweather more than $30 million.
Nobody imagined last Saturday’s fight would be any different from Floyd’s previous fights, which were usually one-sided and always ended in a victory for him. The odds were 11-1 in favor of Floyd.
Well this one did end in another victory for Mayweather, but according to Ed, and the others who saw the fight, Maidana proved to be his toughest opponent since he beat Miguel Cotto in 2012.
“Maidana showed two things in this fight,” said Ed. “One, that Floyd can be beaten and two, that it will still take a whole lot of effort to actually hand Floyd a loss.”
“For all of Maidana’s gung-ho offense, remember that Floyd still won the fight. Brute force is not enough, there must be cunning, too. Pacquiao is now this kind of fighter, thus making the demand for a fight with Floyd very interesting.”
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He said Floyd Jr. is eager for a rematch and many boxing fans wonder why when it should be the other way around.
“He wants a rematch as early as September because he feels that he could have performed better against Maidana. He failed to walk the talk in that bout. He got cut near the eye but it was his ego that really got bruised.”
Many boxing aficionados also see Mayweather’s bid for a rematch as another excuse to delay the fight with Pacquiao, he added.
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HOOPVINE: Promoter Sammy Gello-Ani said former IBF light flyweight champ Johnriel Casimero has always been overweight just before a fight, but they have always managed to bring his weight down to the required level in time. Why was the fight against Mauricio Fuentes of Colombia different? “Because the venue was right here and I was not around to monitor his diet. His mother and the rest of his family kept feeding him,” he said… Cagayan Rising Suns player Jason Melano was fined P10,000 and suspended for two games after he was caught by the PBA’s technical cameras punching Jumbo Plastics cager Jan Colina in the face in the closing seconds of the game, a ritual Melano performs every time Cagayan loses. Finally, he got caught… Congratulations to new lawyers Dominique Black, daughter of Norman and Benjie Black and Michael Marcos Manotoc, son of golfer Tommy and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, who took their oath recently.
