PREVIEW: APRIL
Mayweather has always looked fantastic against fighters that stand in front of him with very little in the shape of defence. Ricky Hatton, Victor Ortiz, Saul Alvarez to name a few recent foes.
With Maidana, we look back at his first taste of the welterweight life and that came in the form of a one sided loss against ex-welterweight champion Devon Alexander. But is it fair to beat Maidana with this stick as he has certainly moulded into shape impressively compared to the fleshy fighter that turned up for that ten rounder in the Alexander fight. Also the link up with Robert Garcia and the development of a very good jab that was never present in the light welterweight Maidana life seems to have created a very dangerous beast indeed.
The fight between these two will more than likely go the distance as Maidana is very durable and has the heart of a lion. The fact that he can be out boxed by fighters such as Devon Alexander and Amir Khan does not give this author much confidence though.
My prediction is that Maidana will use the same raiding tactics he used against Broner and may even nick one or two rounds, but because Floyd Mayweather is NOT Adrien Broner I can only see Maidana being led to the ropes/corners and walking onto straight right hands continuously for the majority of the match. Maidana will be the aggressor as per usual but Floyd's power is under rated and once Maidana feels the shots on the way in, he will slowly lose confidence and Mayweather will take over and put on an exhibition (just like the Alvarez fight).
THE UNDERCARD
On the undercard, Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KOs) vs Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KOS in a very risky fight for Khan. Collazo is riding high on his recent knockout vicotry over former mayweather victim Victor Ortiz. Khan will really have to be switched on mentally for the full twelve rounds as Collazo is as tough as old boots and has a very hard punch (don't let the record fool you for a second). This fight is Khan's to lose really as he has the skills and speed to deal with Collazo very easily if he wants, but as we have seen over the previous few years, after around 4/6 rounds Amir's wheels can begin to fall off. If this happens then he can say goodnight to a Floyd fight forever.
The other fight is a comeback fight for Maidana's last victim, Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) as he takes on lightweight non contender Carlos Molina (17-1, 7 KOs) (no, not that one) in a light welterweight matchup. Broner will have a massive size advantage over Molina who has only ever fought at world level once against Amir Khan and in that fight he was taken apart in comprehensive fashion, retiring in ten rounds. This has Broner early KO written all over it and it is an insult really for a mismatch such as this to be on an event of this magnitude.
J'Leon Love takes on Marco Antonio Periban in a ten round light welterweight contest and Britain's 2012 London Olympic hero Anthony Ogogo also features against an opponent yet to be confirmed.
By Damien McKinley
After one of the most talked about boxing conspiracies to have taken place in the modern era of boxing, both Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs) and Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) have both taken somewhat difficult paths to be reunited with each other for their rematch on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It would take someone special to convince die hard Pacquiao fans that the Filipino is still the force that he once was. With the supposed most explosive left hand in boxing (if you believe Max Kellerman and the like), Manny has failed to knock out an opponent since Ricky Hatton in May of 2009 or even stop an