Roughly two-and-half months after scoring a majority-decision win over Marcos Maidana, WBC and WBA welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather sounded off on his upcoming rematch with the Argentinian on Monday in New York City.
During a press conference at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, “Money” said the following regarding Maidana:
He has to do something different—I don’t. The only thing he can do is take the dirty fighting away. If he did that, he probably wouldn’t win one round. I’m going to rest a lot more and rest my body a lot more. I’m going to do more physical training for this fight, because is it safe to say, I’m not fighting a boxer. I’m fighting an MMA fighter.
Mayweather bested Maidana over 12 rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May, winning the bout on two of the judges’ scorecards and drawing on another (116-12, 117-11, 114-114).
Maidana, however, seemingly progressed in defeat by landing more shots than any other fighter in the 38 bouts over which CompuBox (h/t Boxing Scene) has covered Mayweather (46-0). The 30-year-old brawler landed 221 of 858 punches thrown, including 185 of 540 power punches.
But regardless of the numbers, Mayweather maintained his stance that he’s out of Maidana‘s league:
Is Maidana a better fighter than (Miguel) Cotto? No. Is Maidana a better fighter than Canelo [Alvarez]? No. Is he a dirtier fighter? Yes. He wants to hold; elbow. I didn’t get a deep gash [over his right eye] from a punch. I got a deep gash from a head butt [in the fourth round].
On a different note, during an April episode of ESPN’s SportsNation, UFC president Dana White weighed in on the outlandish buzz that Mayweather is entertaining an MMA fight with UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey:
You put Ronda Rousey in any fight situation — a street fight, a mixed martial arts fight. Not only does she beat Floyd, she’ll hurt Floyd really bad. But you take Ronda Rouseyand you put her in a boxing match, obviously we know what’s going to happen there. But a real fight, Ronda Rousey will hurt Floyd. I don’t know if anyone has seen Floyd in real life, but he’s [a smaller guy]. If Ronda gets her hands on him, she’ll hurt him. I’ve seen her throw big men and hurt them.
He didn‘t have to say much, but Mayweather finally offered an opinion on Rousey via a video posted by Boxing Scene’s David Greisman today.
“Actually, I don’t even know who he is,” Mayweather said of Rousey.
Maidana will get his second crack at Mayweather on Sept. 13 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
As for Rousey, she underwent arthroscopic knee surgery today from an injury she apparently suffered in her 16-second win over Alexis Davis at UFC 175. Rousey, who’s defended her belt five times, also sustained a broken thumb in her knockout of Davis.
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