Mayweather-Maidana II Lacks Intrigue of Other Famous Rematches

Published

11 years ago

September 11, 2014

This coming weekend we’ll see one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters, Floyd Mayweather 46-0 (26) fight the aggressive and tough contender Marcos Maidana 35-4 (31) for the second time in four months.

Back in May, Floyd won a 12-round majority decision (which should’ve been unanimous) over Maidana in what turned out to be one of the toughest bouts of Mayweather’s career.

Over the last 40 plus years there have been some compelling rematches between boxing’s biggest stars and their career rivals. What makes those bouts different than Mayweather-Maidana II is the fact that the star fighter lost. And the whole intrigue regarding the rematch in the eyes of most boxing observers and fans was to see if the superstar fighter could come back after being decisively defeated.

However, that’s not the case going into Mayweather-Maidana II. Mayweather, who was an overwhelming favorite before the first fight, won cleanly. No, it wasn’t decisive in favor of Mayweather. But it was conclusive enough that it’s nearly impossible, at least for me, to give Maidana even a punchers’ chance to score the upset this time. And that’s because he can’t change his style or adjust better to Mayweather this time without sacrificing his aggression. If Maidana is not on the attack against Mayweather, he’ll be a fish out of water and will lose a very one sided decision.

Below are five rematches that were much more compelling going in than Mayweather-Maidana II. And that is because the loser in each of the first meetings had a legitimate and realistic chance to avenge the loss suffered the first time they met. In fact the loser was actually favored three times going into the second bout.

Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier II: What made the Ali-Frazier trilogy so great were the contrasting styles between Muhammad and Joe. One’s strength was the others’ weakness and vice-versa. Frazier won a 15-round unanimous decision over Ali on March 8th 1971, the first time they met, when both were undefeated. During their first bout Frazier cut the ring off on Ali beautifully. He forced Muhammad to fight with his back to the ropes and in the corners. And as long as Joe waged war with Ali on the inside, it was to his advantage. When Ali was able to keep Frazier at center ring and turning in the corners, he was fine. But Ali’s low right hand left him a sitting duck for Frazier’s faster than he thought left hook.

When they fought again almost three years later, Ali was in better shape and wasn’t coming off only two fights after 43 months of inactivity. He also learned from the first fight that he couldn’t fight Frazier off of him without occupying his big left-hook on the inside. So he tied Frazier up once Joe had him cornered and against the ropes. Once the referee broke them apart, Ali moved and pot-shotted Frazier from outside. Another adjustment he made was, he didn’t throw many hooks and uppercuts at Frazier, especially when they were fighting from a clinch. The net result was, Ali won a 12-round unanimous decision in a far less action packed bout and knotted their rivalry 1-1.

Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks II: When Ali fought Leon the first time; Spinks was only a veteran of seven professional bouts. Muhammad was 36 years old and fighting for the money at that time. He barely trained and had a hard time getting up for Spinks. Ali was certain that Leon, who never fought more than eight rounds as a pro, would fade and tire during the second half of the fight. Only it didn’t happen. Spinks threw punches nonstop at Ali’s arms, shoulders and head while he was resting against the ropes. Ali seldom fired back at Leon. During the last third of the fight Ali staged a huge rally and had Spinks on his heels more than a few times but Leon weathered the storm and hung on to win the heavyweight title via a 15-round split decision.

Six months later the rematch set an indoor attendance record and Ali showed up in better shape. Realizing that he couldn’t fight Spinks on the ropes for 15 rounds, Ali circled Leon and nailed him with quick lefts and rights from outside, thus impeding Spinks’ aggression. Whenever Leon tried to bull Ali to the ropes, Muhammad wrapped him up and pulled him in, then reset and pushed him off of him. This nullified Leon’s attack as the routine was repeated throughout the fight. Ali, despite not looking spectacular physically, went on to win a 15-round unanimous decision to regain the title and knotted their series 1-1.

Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran II: The Leonard-Duran trilogy had a lot in common with the Ali-Frazier trilogy. Duran, like Frazier, wanted to force the fight on the inside. Roberto taunted and mocked Leonard before their first fight. This did a number on Leonard psychologically and had him thinking that he wanted to take Duran’s head off. Since Duran was moving up from lightweight to welterweight, Leonard thought he could fight it out with Duran. For 15 rounds, Leonard fought Duran inside and tried to knock him out. Only that was Roberto’s fight. Duran got the better of Leonard by ultimately forcing Ray to trade punches with him. The fight was close, but Duran deserved the unanimous decision he was awarded after 15 fast paced rounds that saw back and forth action.

Five months later Leonard moved and boxed this time and mocked Duran, who couldn’t really get going or find his rhythm. For the first six rounds Leonard boxed and kept Duran from bulling him to the ropes the way he did in their first bout. After seven rounds Leonard held the edge but the fight was a long way from being settled. In the closing seconds of the eighth round Duran turned his back and quit waving his glove in a sign of surrender and said “No Mas” to the referee. Roberto said he had stomach cramps and couldn’t continue and Leonard knotted their series at 1-1.

Aaron Pryor vs. Alexis Arguello II: Pryor and Arguello staged one of the greatest title fights in the history of the junior welterweight division. Arguello was a great boxer-puncher who had dynamite in his right hand. Pryor was a whirlwind fighter who not only could punch with both hands, but he was unpredictable and attacked in spurts. Sometimes he would circle and then come in recklessly throwing bombs. His unconventional style perplexed the orthodox and by the book Arguello. These two traded bombs for 14 straight rounds. At times it looked as if Arguello’s right to Pryor’s chin would ultimately be the difference. And then in the next round Pryor would rock and befuddle Arguello with his over hand rights and looping hooks. In the 13th round Arguello hit Pryor with a right hand that should’ve taken his head off. In the 14th round, Pryor trapped Arguello against the ropes and unloaded a barrage of rights and lefts from every imaginable angle and stopped Arguello.

When they fought 10 months later, Arguello, who could only fight one way, thought if he brought a little more of what he did last time, he’d knock Pryor out this time. And that was plausible. However, Pryor again had an extra gear to answer Alexis every time it seemed that he was on the verge of seizing the fight. In what was a virtual repeat of the first fight, Arguello was stopped in the 10th round. Arguello sat on the ring canvas and looked the referee in the eye as he was counted out realizing that Pryor had his number and there was nothing he could do to beat him.

Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson II: Going into their first meeting Holyfield really looked terrible in his last two bouts, going 1-1. It’s easy to see that Tyson probably took him lightly. Evander came right out in the first round and showed Mike he wasn’t the least bit awed by him. Holyfield out thought, out fought and out muscled Tyson from the onset. In the sixth round he dropped Mike with a left hook to the chest. Tyson got up but the fight began slipping away from him as Holyfield was bettering him at every turn. At the end of the 10th round Tyson was out on his feet. In the eleventh round Holyfield picked up where he left off in the tenth and started battering Tyson again, which led to referee Mitch Halpern stopping the fight less than a minute into the 11th round.

In the rematch Holyfield came out strong again and backed Tyson up and was handling Mike when he was at his most dangerous. Tyson complained about Holyfield head butting him, but it looked as if he was losing his confidence with each passing minute. Tyson came out of his corner for the third round without his mouthpiece and was forced to put it in by referee Mills Lane. Tyson began the round in a fury, but Holyfield was no worse for it. With forty seconds left in the round, Tyson bit Holyfield on his right ear and Holyfield jumped up and down in pain. Lane deducted two points from Tyson and after restoring order the fight resumed. Then in the next clinch Tyson bit Holyfield’s other ear and was immediately disqualified. Holyfield retained the title via a third round DQ victory.

That is a quick recap of five of the more anticipated rematches over the last 45 years. Going into Ali-Frazier II and Leonard-Duran II, Ali and Leonard, who both lost the first fight, were slight betting favorites. And the reason for that is because it was perceived that they were versatile enough to change their style and reverse the result of the first fight against the attacker who overwhelmed them the first time. Ali was also favored over Leon Spinks before their rematch. And that was because he was viewed as the more adaptable fighter who could correct the mistakes he made the first time. And the odds makers were right again.

In the case of Pryor-Arguello II, Pryor was the slight favorite the second time. And that was because he was the younger fighter and his victory was so decisive. However, there were plenty among the experts who thought that Pryor could never be that great again and therefore Arguello would win the rematch. So even with Pryor being favored, it was almost split as to who would win because Alexis was so great and respected. As for Holyfield-Tyson II, Tyson was a 2-1 favorite because most thought Holyfield got lucky and Tyson wasn’t ready for him the first time. The thought was Tyson will be in great shape for the rematch and go through Evander like he should’ve the first time. As it turned out, both Arguello and Tyson, who had to force the fight, couldn’t adapt and ultimately lost to a great fighter who owned them stylistically.

Which leads us back to Mayweather-Maidana II. Mayweather is a monumental favorite again over Maidana because there was nothing that happened in the last fight to give anyone confidence that Maidana can beat a more focused Mayweather this time. The fight will do big numbers because Floyd is a big draw along with the fact that Maidana was in the last fight for eight rounds. But unlike some of the rematches above, the loser, Maidana, can’t change or be better than he was the first time.

More on Maidana’s style conundrum later this week.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Published

14 hours ago

May 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.

It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.

In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.

Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.

It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.

“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.

Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.

Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.

Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.

We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.

Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”

But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.

“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”

Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.

Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”

If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38^th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.

Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”

Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.

Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.

On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Published

3 days ago

May 6, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Arne's-Almanac-The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-(mostly)-Ugly-A-Weeend-Boxing-Recap-and-More

Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.

In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.

Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.

CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.

****

Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.

Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”

And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.

Joey Archer

Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer

Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.

Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.

Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.

In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.

When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.

Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.

May he rest in peace.

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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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