I had it 7-5 Mayweather.
Maidana imo won: 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8.
Although Floyd dug pretty deep to take control and started banging Maidana as hard as I've ever seen him throw with bad intentions, I thought Floyd still could've done more and possibly KO Maidana when he started landing cleanly down the stretch. If he had turned some of those 3 punch combos into multiple 3-5 punch combos 3-4 times a round and stayed on Maidana harder it could've started to look like the Gatti fight. Maidana was clearly shaken by Floyd's offense at times and stopped coming forward. But then again how many times have we seen Maidana catch a guy cause they're too open offensively. Floyd walked the thin ice a little further out than usual but didn't jump in feet first.
I think THAT is the definition of All Time Great vs a Top 20 great. When a guy like Ali, for example, even after being behind in a fight gets the momentum, you don't see them let off the gas, you see them end the fight in dominating and spectacular fashion, knocking the opponent out down the stretch. And you clearly see that they were trying to win in spectacular fashion. I'm not so sure Floyd tried to do that. He turned it up to where he needed to, to keep Maidana off of him, but he didn't really show a TBE type finish that would put him up there with the "Great" greats. I know there's several guys in this forum that think Maidana won and some that feel it should've been a draw etc. This makes my point, the stage was set: How great would it have been if Floyd had knocked Maidana down once or twice and even went in for the kill to finish him in the late rounds, AFTER clearly being behind and stressed/pressed physically early on? Floyd had Marcos stung a couple times and laid off instead of throwing two more hard shots right behind it, which may have done some serious damage. Maidana wasn't prepared to counter some of that shit Floyd was sending out, Chino couldn't even see most of that stuff coming. At a point Floyd had the chances to dominate, but just did enough (albeit "enough" was more than he's been pressed to do in previous fights, but he could've done more). He really looked like he could do anything he wanted to, to Maidana by the 9th and 10th round.
Finishing one of his toughest fights to date, (a fight that some people say he could've lost), in the type of fashion that makes us all stand up and clap saying "wow", cause he actually put on a spectacular show of combos and strikes and relentless attack to get Marcos Maidana out of there (with stuff we KNOW he has in his arsenal, we've seen it in his PBF days); would have earned some serious points toward the argument of being The Best Ever. Making a statement in the ring as if to say ""I'm pissed off that you made this fight hard on me, and now I'm gonna finish this by embarrassing you into oblivion as I stand over your collapsed body in the ring in the 12th....
He may be the most "Hardest to Beat Ever", but didn't help towards being considered "The Best Ever". The Greats figure out how to win, the Best close the show.
Oddly I was impressed, yet disappointed by Floyd's victory last night.
