This isn’t rocket science, it is likely that Mayweather knowing the type of fight that Maidana fights now, will make the proper adjustments, box brilliantly and cruise to a decision, but that isn’t why people watch Mayweather’s fights.
While many do appreciate his boxing brilliance, the reason he is generating so much attention and money is because people want to be able to say they were there or they saw when he lost. Marcos Maidana gave Mayweather a hard fight the first time around, not many people thought he won, but he made Mayweather work for the victory.
There is no blueprint per se to beating Mayweather because if there was he would have already lost, but there are things that can be done to make your chances of success greater and Maidana showed a few of these in their last fight.
If he is able to refine some of those techniques and hope that Father Time has crept in on Mayweather, he has an opportunity to make history. Here are a few things he needs to do to make that happen.
1- Controlled Crazy
There is a saying that men are attracted to crazy women, but they don’t want them so crazy they are stabbing them. You want to be a little wild, but you want to have method to your madness. Maidana in the first fight was wild and rugged, but he wasn’t very accurate with his punches. It is difficult to be accurate against Mayweather, but the best chance for success is when you are bullying him preferably against the ropes. Maidana has to make sure his wide looping punches land more to the head and body (especially the body), than the shoulders and back. He has to charge in, be a bully, but with a plan in mind when he does make Mayweather uncomfortable. Mayweather isn’t Adrien Broner he isn’t going to panic and leave himself open, but there will be opportunities and Maidana needs to use his brain as well as his brawn.
2- Stamina
Fighting Mayweather isn’t so much of physically taxing as it is mentally. Maidana didn’t go into a brain freeze like Canelo who was overthinking what he needed to do, but in his haste to maul Mayweather, he simply got mentally and physically tired in the second half of the fight and couldn’t keep up the pace. Maidana’s camp says he has had a longer time to train now, so he will be able to keep up the pressure for 12 rounds, we will see.
3- Luck
Sometimes in boxing you need a little luck, your left hand gets there before you opponents’ right hand or you deliver a blind punch that connects (also known as the Tarver Punch). Mayweather has had very few shaky moments, but it only takes one punch to change things. Maidana needs a little luck on his side and he has the power to make that happen.
Maidana is an 8-1 underdog in the fight and it is unlikely that Mayweather will take any unnecessary risks in the fight.
It will be an uphill battle but not an impossible one if a couple of things fall his way.
