MAYWEATHER ASHINDA, LAKINI AKIONA CHA MOTO

The
boos of the anti-Mayweather crowd clouded appreciation of the way the
prize-ring’s Money man had just earned his millions with his fighting
heart as well as his phenomenal talent.

The
heart of everybody in the packed MGM Grand Garden went out to Marcos
Maidana for his heroic assault on the greatest boxer on the planet.

Floyd
Mayweather was given the roughest, toughest night of his recent years
as Maidana launched his feared missile of a right hand repeatedly – and
early on landed too frequently for the great man’s comfort.

+10

Still unbeaten: Floyd Mayweather edged out Marcos Maidana but was given a tough time in Las Vegas

+10

Attack: Maidana came out with all guns firing from the opening bell to take the fight to Mayweagther

+10

On top: Mayweather turned the screw during the middle rounds but was not given an easy ride

JEFF POWELL’S SCORECARD

MAYWEATHER	ROUND	MAIDANA
9	1	10
10	2	9
10	3	9
10	4	10
9	5	10
10	6	9
10	7	9
10	8	9
10	9	9
10	10	9
10	11	10
9	12	10
117	TOTAL	113

Yet
there was no robbery here, no failure in the judging the like of which
has betrayed so many fights and the hard old game itself of late.

But
given the crowd’s two-fold reaction – raw excitement as well as boiling
resentment of the majority decision by which Mayweather added the WBA
world welterweight title to his WBC belt – it looks as if they will have
to do it all again.

Mayweather promised as much, Maidana demanded as much. It looks a done deal, back here on the Las Vegas Strip in September.

That
will not disappoint Amir Khan as much as it might appear at first
glance after his preceding victory over Luis Collazo, since he had
already said that his fasting observance of Ramadan would not give him
time to train for that date.

Khan will be hoping Mayweather fends off Maidana again and meets him next May.

For the moment, all the boxing public want is this rematch.

Having
come through a thunderstorm of early Maidana attacks to flex his genius
in the crucial middle rounds, Mayweather feels confident enough to
oblige. He says; ‘If this is what the fans want, I will give it to
them.’

Maidana
sounds as if he would do it tomorrow, saying: ‘I thought I won. If they
had not taken my gloves away from me I would have knocked him out.’

+10

Is this wrestling? Maidana’s rough tactics upset Mayweather as he suffered his toughest fight in years

+10

Under pressure: Maidana showed little respect to the pound-for-pound No 1 with an excellent display

+10

Upset: Maidana was left frustrated that he was not allowed to wear his gloves of choice

That
was a reference to a pre-fight dispute over gloves which Mayweather
argued were not properly padded. But if the Argentinian feels they would
have given the Argentinian that much of an advantage they were probably
improper anyway.

Whatever the arguments, this was on helluva fight.

Maidana
stormed out from the first bell and went on to connect with 221
punches, the most to land on the best defensive fighter in the world
since computer statistics were introduced.

Yet
Mayweather still found a way to win, comfortably by my scoring as well
as on the cards of two of the judges. Where the third official got a
draw from is a mystery which he will have trouble explaining.

Maidana did get off to a flyer. Those booming rights won him two of the first five rounds and a share of another.

But
Mayweather never flinched, rode out the storm and went on to box and
frequently outscore Maidana with brilliant, hurtful accuracy of punching
with both hands.