Zimpapers Logo

LAS VEGAS. — It did not start as the best of weeks for Floyd Mayweather. He can only hope it ends better.
Odds are it will, if he can finish off Marcos Maidana in their welterweight rematch in Las Vegas in the early hours of tomorrow.Anyway, he will add another US$30 million or so to his bank accounts.

Early this week his former fiancée served him with papers in a lawsuit, alleging he is a domestic abuser and an insensitive lout. Then rapper 50 Cent mocked him online for not being able to read simple sentences.

That was before he even opened his mouth up about a disgraced football player, Ray Rice.

Mayweather had to issue an apology after seeming to express sympathy to Rice for punching his former girlfriend in a casino elevator.

The issue is a delicate one for the boxer, who served two months in jail in 2012 for a plea to reduced charges in an assault against his former girlfriend in front of their children.

“My name is always brought up with a situation,” Mayweather said. “I apologise. But I don’t worry about it. To me, it’s like this: if this is boxing, you should be asking about me and Maidana. You shouldn’t be asking me about football. I’m not even an NFL player. I’m a boxer.”
In the first fight against Maidana, Mayweather was cut and temporarily blinded in the fourth round of what was supposed to be an easy payday after his megafight with Saul Alvarez.

Mayweather won by majority decision but his face was bruised and bloodied as if he had been in the kind of ring war he had taken pains to avoid during his 18-year career as a professional boxer.

Worse yet, the fight sold poorly, threatening Mayweather’s reputation as the pay-per-view king. Most estimates were that it earned under 1 million buys.

If Mayweather is worried about any of it, he doesn’t show it. He was, after all, the highest paid athlete in the world last year, raking in US$72 million in two fights.

But even if the first fight with Maidana was an aberration and Mayweather’s skills aren’t slipping, he clearly has the finish line of his career in focus. He said this week he would finish his contract with Showtime by fighting twice more next year before retiring.

Most people don’t believe he will pass up a chance to get his record to to 50-0 and break the mark held by Rocky Marciano.

Mayweather himself has said he changes his mind about his career depending on how he feels that day. “I contradict myself all the time,” he said.

Mayweather says he won nine of the 12 rounds in the first fight against Maidana, despite one judge scoring it even. He complained about Maidana’s rough tactics, but said he rose to the challenge by dominating the second half.

“I know how to make adjustments instantly; it’s second nature. I’m faster this time; a lot stronger. We’ll see what he brings to the table.”
Distractions aside, these should be good times for the 37-year-old champion. American television viewers will pay US$74.95 to see the fight into their homes.

Mayweather was in typically bullish mood on Thursday as he prepared to fight Maidana again.

“Line them up like bowling pins so I can knock them down,” the undefeated welterweight champion declared.

But he did concede that their fight in May, which bubbled without ever exploding, had been “very interesting”. This was a tacit acknowledgement that Maidana had offered a severe test.

Mayweather almost never agrees to rematches, but on Thursday he said he couldn’t wait to get another crack at Maidana, who outpunched the American but lost on a majority decision.

“My job is to go out there and just be me and do what I do,” Mayweather said ahead of the showdown in Las Vegas this weekend.
“You all seen this a thousand times, over and over again. ‘This guy is going to beat Mayweather. He’s the one, he’s young, a hungry lion. He’s a veteran, he’s got power.”

Mayweather, whose record of 46-0 includes 26 wins inside the distance, and Maidana (35-4; 31) will clash for the WBA welterweight title and the WBC welterweight and junior middleweight belts.

This is just the second rematch for Mayweather since he turned professional in 1996. “I am not one to give second chances in the ring,” Mayweather said. “He deserves a rematch. The first fight was very interesting. Hopefully this fight is a lot more exciting.”

Mayweather has to get off to a better start against Maidana than he did in May.

And the 31-year-old Argentine slugger will try to pace himself so that he doesn’t run out of steam in the later rounds. — AFP