“This is the most expensive undercard in the history of Pay-Per -View, so credit goes to Floyd as it’s an investment. This is not a card that we needed to support this event. This is a card that Mayweather Promotions took money out of their pocket and is an investment of the sport,” explained Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza on last week’s Floyd Mayweather conference call.
‘The Moment’ is a mere days away. There are stars on the undercard, mainly Amir Khan and Adrien Broner, both in separate bouts. Both guys want to be future Pay-Per-View stars and Amir Khan may one day win the Mayweather jackpot. There is name value on this card but the most important name is Mayweather.
Mayweather-Maidana was not pushed as heavily as Mayweather-Canelo. There was no multiple city press tour; there was no crazy hype behind the card. Maybe it’s because unlike Canelo, who Mayweather was a 2-1 favorite over, Maidana who Mayweather is a 10-1 favorite over, is seen as having no chance by odds makers, so why hype it.
Mayweather disagrees.
“Everybody think he’s going to be a pushover but I’m training and expecting the best Maidana. You can’t overlook the guy, he has an 80% knockout ratio,” stated Mayweather.
While it sounds good in theory, many people gave Maidana very little chance against Adrien Broner at welterweight mainly because when Maidana stepped up in weight to face Devon Alexander, he was shutout. Mayweather prefers the latter as to which Maidana to expect.
“Maidana might not have been accustomed to fighting a southpaw and he was fighting in Alexander’s turf. He’s more of a straight up boxer. But his confidence is built after fighting Adrien Broner; he thinks it the same style. He’s more confident now than when he faced Devon Alexander,” said Mayweather.
It could also have been another factor as Leonard Ellerbe explained. “Maidana was asked to pull out the Alexander fight because he was very very sick. But like the true warrior he is, he didn’t.”
Sick or not, Maidana can punch and he can spoil plans. He’s done twice when he was brought in as an opponent to fight Victor Ortiz and Adrien Broner. His power is a threat to anyone if he lands, but can he?
“I can feel it,” Mayweather said on avoiding a boxer’s best punch. “I don’t even have to see guy’s shots. A lot of guys telegraph it, I can see it. Whatever he does best, my goal is to take it away from him.”
But even if Maidana lands, Mayweather says, “You can get hit with true good shots at times but any true champion get hit and shake it off.”
Mayweather has been around the sport a long time and has made a lot of money as he doesn’t hesitate to show it. But Mayweather grew up in boxing and boxing made it all possible. So no matter how much money is made, boxing will always be a fixture in Mayweather’s life.
“Boxing will always be important to me and always will be because it’s the reason I have what I have. I want to help this sport live on and continue to grow. I want to continue to help fighters grow, make Mayweather Promotions grow even with guys that aren’t with Mayweather. I want to look for the next star, the next Floyd Mayweather. Canelo could be one of those guys. Canelo looked unbelievable, I said he’s back. Me and Canelo was more like a chess fight and I was Bobby Fischer.”
While he is an elder stalwart that’s still active, he isn’t the eldest. Bernard Hopkins is nearing the age of 50 and is still providing boxing lessons to the younger fighters in the ring. Hopkins proposed a 50-50 meaning at the age of 50, he wants to be Mayweather’s 50th challenge and wants to be the one to hand him his 1st loss on Mayweather’s trek to being 50-0,
To the notion Mayweather stated, “I think everybody is trying to hit the jackpot and hit the Floyd Mayweather jackpot from heavyweight down.” I saw the 1st 2 rounds of Bernard’s fight. I thought Bernard Hopkins was losing the fight. I went for a 6 mile round and I guess he picked it up. He’s a legend like me but he knows the biggest payday is Floyd Mayweather.”
