Is Mayweather gambling with his legacy?

02/13/2014 Ronan Smith

We are all waiting, if hardly anticipating, the announcement of the Mayweather V Khan bout set to take place on May 3rd. Various articles have been written by different writers on the subject and the consensus is that Khan is simply not worthy of a shot against the planet’s number one pound-for-pound boxer. This is a notion that I cannot rid from my mind, and this comes from a hardcore British boxing fan who would love to see Mayweather dethroned by a British boxer, but certainly not from an unjust gifted opportunity.

That is exactly what Khan will be handed if indeed he is given the shot and the situation will prove to be another example of the modern dealings of boxing as a business where money talks instead of a fighter’s pride in striving to be the best, by fighting only the best, as earlier decades were defined by.

Mayweather poll vote ends, Khan tops Maidana to get May 3rd fight

02/12/201402/10/2014 Jeff Sorby

Amir Khan’s many twitter followers have voted him in as Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next opponent on May 3rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Mayweather poll ended yesterday at his site at Mayweather Promotions, and the final numbers showed Khan winning 57 percent of the vote with 20,105 votes compared to Maidana’s 15,474. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Khan for doing a good job of encouraging his many followers to go to the Mayweather Promotions website and vote for him in the poll.

There was no official message at the Mayweather Promotions website about Khan now being the guy that Mayweasther will be facing next, but we’ll likely be hearing something from Mayweather himself shortly, unless he changes his mind about wanting to use the poll as his method for selecting his next opponent for his May 3rd fight. I doubt he’ll do that, because having Khan as his next opponent actually works out better for Mayweather than it would if Maidana were his next opponent.

Maidana insults Mayweather Jr. by offering Amir Khan a rematch

02/08/201402/07/2014 Vitali Shaposhnikov

Well this is certainly a risky and an absolutely mind-blowing move by Marcos Maidana.

Call it bravery, dedication, or thirst for revenge, Maidana’s cojones for not chasing a Mayweather Jr. fight must have tripled in size overnight.

In his Twitter post, Maidana wrote : “Forget about the stupid poll and Mayweather! Got tired of @AmirKingKhan. MAIDANA VS KHAN MAY 3RD OR WHENEVER. THATS THE FIGHT”

While a Mayweather Jr. is the fight of all fights, not only when it comes to the opportunity of a lifetime, but in the financial sense as well, looks like Maidana wants to fight his fight and his opponent.

Khan: Why would Mayweather fight a slow fighter like Maidana?

09/15/201602/06/2014 Rob Smith

Amir Khan doesn’t see any point at all in Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana on May 3rd. Khan feels that Maidana is too slow of hand and foot to give Mayweather any problems in the fight. Instead, Khan says that he should get the fight because he has the hand speed to give Mayweather problems the same way that Oscar De La Hoya gave a younger version of Mayweather a ton of problems 7 years ago in their fight in 2007.

Khan says he wants Maidana to fight Adrien Broner on the undercard of the Mayweather vs. Khan fight on May 3rd. In other words, Khan wants Maidana to do him a favor by helping beef up pay-per-view sales for his fight with Mayweather.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.: “None of the Above”

02/07/201402/06/2014 Joseph Herron

On last night’s episode of ESPN’s sports talk show “Olbermann”, eight division world champion and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao gave the former political satirist an opportunity to probe the Filipino Congressman, concerning the future and past of his legendary fight career and his life as a politician.

The seven minute interview predictably ended with the always intriguing question regarding a mammoth and potentially historic fight with the pound for pound king of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

When asked if he would ever fight Money Mayweather, the Filipino Congressman had much to say.

“I want the fight, but it’s up to him (Floyd Mayweather),” admitted Manny Pacquiao. “Our line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If he calls and says yes, the fight will be made.”

Floyd Mayweather Junior asks his fans who he should fight next: Khan or Maidana

02/03/2014 James Slater

Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Junior didn’t do as was widely expected and use the platform of the always huge Super bowl weekend to announce who his next fight would be; instead Mayweather took to his Twitter account and asked his fans do do the choosing of his next opponent for him. But fans have just two names to choose from: Britain’s Amir Khna and Argentina’s Marcos Maidana.

“I’m going to let the fans vote,” wrote Mayweather. “Tell me who I should fight next. Khan or Maidana?”

It’s a pity Mayweather’s list has just two fighters on it – just think how many votes Floyd would receive if Manny Pacquiao was on the list! But as it is, it’s almost guaranteed, in my opinion anyway, that the lion’s share of the fans vote for Maidana. Ever since the possibility of Mayweather facing Khan was brought up, fans everywhere have complained of the fight being “an obvious mis-match,” or “an easy pay day for Floyd.” It’s a no-brainer that these same fans will now ask for Mayweather to get it on with the dangerous if somewhat crude at times Maidana.

Robert Garcia: Maidana deserves a shot at Mayweather after win over Broner

01/20/201401/20/2014 Jeff Sorby

Trainer Robert Garcia feels that his fighter WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana should have been in the running for a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. following his win over Adrien Broner last December. But instead of getting a potential chance against Mayweather in what would have been a career high payday for the Argentinian fighter, Maidana is now pretty much locked into a rematch with Broner after Broner invoked his rematch clause in his contract with Maidana.

“We thought by beating Broner and doing it the way we did, we definitely earned the shot at Mayweather,” Garcia said to the Boxing Channel. “For whatever reason it looks like they’re going to go with Amir Khan, and we’re going to have to wait and wait, because what if he changes his mind and fights someone else?

Adrien Broner shouldn’t have fought Maidana, says Jones Jr.

08/01/201401/15/2014 Jeff Sorby

Roy Jones Jr. thinks it was a big mistake for former WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s) to have been matched against a puncher like Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) last month in their fight on December 14th. Jones Jr. thinks that Broner’s tougher than expected fight against Paulie Malignaggi was a sign that he needed to fight a slightly stronger fighter for his next fight instead of being put in with arguably the hardest puncher in the 147 lb. division in Maidana.

Golden Boy Promotions set up the Broner-Maidana fight, and Jones Jr. thinks that was a mistake. He felt that Broner needed more time for him to slowly grow into becoming a welterweight instead of jumping up to that weight class and quickly being put in the ring with Maidana in a risky right.

Left-Hook Lounge: Broner/Maidana II, Mayweather/Pacquiao, Top Rank (Cold War)

01/13/2014 Vivek Wallace

Kelvin Y. (Atlanta, GA): It was recently reported that Adrien Broner secured his option to take an immediate rematch against Marcos Maidana. What are your thoughts about his chances of winning the rematch and what a win or loss would do for him in the aftermath?

Vivek W. (ESB): A few weeks ago when Broner was humbled by Maidana, I felt at the time that his best move would be to go down to 140lbs and allow himself to slowly develop into the welterweight division. There’s a huge misconception that just because a fighter walks around at a weight, he can fight at that weight. Broner learned the reality behind this flawed train of thought quickly in the first round when he realized he was standing across from a man who could hurt him that he didn’t have as much ability to hurt in return. I expect the rematch to be very interesting, but unlike many, I don’t know that I really see a different outcome in the end. The biggest issues I saw with Broner in the fight were his inability to adapt, his limited head movement, and what I also perceived to be a conditioning issue.

Stafford thinks Broner will beat Maidana in the rematch if he starts fast

07/31/201401/13/2014 Jeff Sorby

Mike Stafford, the trainer for former WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner, thinks he can beat Marcos Maidana in the rematch if Broner comes out quickly fighting at the pace he was at in the last half of his loss to Maidana last month on December 14th in San Antonio, Texas. Broner lost the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, but you can put most of the responsibility for Broner’s loss on him starting off too slowly in the first 6 rounds.

Broner fought like he was half asleep during the first part of the fight, as he threw few punches and he let Maidana have control over the action. It was like Broner gave the fight to Maidana, at least that part of the fight. When Broner did rally in the 2nd half, he so far behind that he needed a knockout to win, and that wasn’t going to happen.