Floyd Mayweather Jnr., boxing's kingpin, was adamant today that he will need
to be at his "very best to overcome" aggressive Argentine opponent
Marcos Maidana on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While Maidana is a long underdog, WBC welterweight world champion Mayweather
believes the Santa Fe native's brutal victory over Adrien Broner to claim
the WBA crown last December shows he cannot be overlooked.
"So May 3 I've got to go out there and take my time, keep my composure
and be me. Everybody thinks he's just going to be a pushover, but I don't
think so. That's why I'm training hard and I'm pushing myself to the limit
every day," said Mayweather.
"Adrien Broner's a good boxer and he roughed Adrien Broner up and he got
the victory, so we can't say what this guy, can or he can't do. We cannot
overlook the guy," said Mayweather.
"I can't just say he's going to be an easy fight. What I have to do is
I've got to make sure that I'm at my best. I think when Maidana's facing me
his confidence is built after he beat Adrien Broner because he feels that
both of the styles are very similar."
Despite his impressive victory over Broner, Maidana, 30, has already suffered
defeat at the hands of Amir Khan, who is chief support on the card.
The former unified light-welterweight world champion takes on Luis Collazo on the same night, but Mayweather has refused to focus solely on attacking Maidana's body, a focal point Khan and others have used to their benefit.
"My focus is this guy. I'm pretty sure he's going to be well rounded and ready for this fight because this is at a total different level".
"Against Amir Khan, the guy could have been doing a lot of sit-ups and making his body in tip-top condition and tip-top shape. Amir Khan could have just caught him with a good shot," said Mayweather.
"My body is in very good condition, but sometimes a guy can hit me with a good shot and I can feel it, but we just don't know how we're going to approach the fight.
"We're going to take our time and go out there and if a guy leaves an opening on his face, we're going to take it, if he leaves an opening on his body we're going to take it, but we can't just say we're going to go in there and everything is going to go to the body. We're going to take our time and pick the guy apart," he said.
"I can see the shots," said Mayweather. "Actually, I can feel when a guy's going to punch. I can feel it. I don't even have to see it; I can feel it. You know, this is just with experience and being around the sport so long. I can just feel a guy when he's going to shoot his shot. A lot of times guys telegraph their shot. Their body language gives away when they're going to shoot because of how they position themselves."
Indeed, Maidana does tend to telegraph his power shots. "When a guy positions himself in a certain way you know what shot he's going to throw, but my thing is whatever a guy's best attribute is, whatever he does best, my goal is to take that away from him and make him resort to doing something else," said Mayweather, regarded as the most technical boxer on the planet. As Mayweather often says: "It's skills that pay the bills."
Mayweather vs. Maidana is live on BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD & Virgin 546) this Saturday night from midnight. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.
The former unified light-welterweight world champion takes on Luis Collazo on the same night, but Mayweather has refused to focus solely on attacking Maidana's body, a focal point Khan and others have used to their benefit.
"My focus is this guy. I'm pretty sure he's going to be well rounded and ready for this fight because this is at a total different level".
"Against Amir Khan, the guy could have been doing a lot of sit-ups and making his body in tip-top condition and tip-top shape. Amir Khan could have just caught him with a good shot," said Mayweather.
"My body is in very good condition, but sometimes a guy can hit me with a good shot and I can feel it, but we just don't know how we're going to approach the fight.
"We're going to take our time and go out there and if a guy leaves an opening on his face, we're going to take it, if he leaves an opening on his body we're going to take it, but we can't just say we're going to go in there and everything is going to go to the body. We're going to take our time and pick the guy apart," he said.
"I can see the shots," said Mayweather. "Actually, I can feel when a guy's going to punch. I can feel it. I don't even have to see it; I can feel it. You know, this is just with experience and being around the sport so long. I can just feel a guy when he's going to shoot his shot. A lot of times guys telegraph their shot. Their body language gives away when they're going to shoot because of how they position themselves."
Indeed, Maidana does tend to telegraph his power shots. "When a guy positions himself in a certain way you know what shot he's going to throw, but my thing is whatever a guy's best attribute is, whatever he does best, my goal is to take that away from him and make him resort to doing something else," said Mayweather, regarded as the most technical boxer on the planet. As Mayweather often says: "It's skills that pay the bills."
Mayweather vs. Maidana is live on BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD & Virgin 546) this Saturday night from midnight. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.
