Last weekend in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Marcos Maidana met for a second time in a rematch of their April bout, and the results were the same: UD 12, Mayweather. The reports are that over 900,000 PPV buys were tallied, meaning we are bound to see Mayweather flashing 8 figure checks and doing anything he can to stay in the news after ripping off so many people.
Here is where boxing purists may disagree, and we can agree to disagree, but there are a few elements that are missing in the sport of boxing as it is presently constituted today. The desire to finish the fight. From the early going of this weekends match, it was clear that Mayweather was not going to deliver on his anticipated KO of Maidana and that he had chosen to box and dance his way to the judges rather than finish the fight early.
Trying to finish the fight via TKO or KO is misplaced on the judges criteria and should be rated much higher. Apply the criteria correctly, and Maidana’s constant press forward where he was seeking engagement from a running opponent who was doing very little damage at all paints a different picture in the match. I’m not saying Maidana won, but he was good enough that Mayweather took no risks.
Look to some of the sports best fighters, and you will find that some of the finest technical boxers are the planet are criticized for having a non-pleasing style. What is missing from Guillermo Rigondeaux, or from Wladimir Klitschko’s game? The desire to finish the fight. Yes, the KO’s come, but they are not from any active pursuit and may in fact come against opponents who have been bored to death.
Another potential solution is tacking on rounds. Of course the commissions would balk at the risks, but if Mayweather and Maidana had been booked at 25 rounds (I wanted to say 75, like the Joe Gans – Battling Nelson bouts of more than a century ago), would Mayweather have fought the same? Or would he actively try to finish the fight to avoid being mired in the later rounds where his legs will be tiring.
The fact is that the 12 round system in boxing is said to be held with the fighters best interest in mind, and that should be the case. But with the advent of television and PPV programming and cramming a show into a 3-hour slot, while getting all your commercials in, well modern business has something to do with the limitations as well. Longer matches could be done with equal safety at the sport’s elite level. it would help change the trend of fighters that play for points and take away from the essence of the sport.
