Lotierzo: I Wasn’t Fooled By The ‘Maidana or Khan’ Poll

“Marcos Maidana was a clear winner on most independent polls, but Amir Khan came from way behind to win the one poll that mattered, Floyd Mayweather’s own fan poll of who he should fight next. Maidana had a sizable lead on Floyd’s poll as well, until Khan appealed to his 1.4 million Twitter followers to help him out. Khan then swept past Maidana in the last days of the poll that will allegedly decide Floyd’s next opponent.”

The above was posted on Fightnews.com Monday February 10th. Shocking, isn’t it? Marcos Maidana seemed to be the odds on favorite to win from the time poll was started, was suddenly passed by Amir Khan after he sent out a plea to his Twitter followers. The second I read the above I immediately said to myself, “There’s no way in the world I believe this poll was legit. Floyd Mayweather was in control from the very beginning.” Then I said, comprehending that response was purely from my gut, with no evidence beyond instinct to back it up, ‘Let’s see what the fans say, and the first response read:

“This poll is as legit as OJ’s honest efforts in searching for the real killers.”

After reading that there was no need to read on. That post summed it up about as well as it can be said. It’s been obvious that Mayweather has wanted his next fight to be against Amir Khan since his last fight when he defeated unbeaten Saul Alvarez. No, I don’t think Floyd fears or has much trepidation about fighting Maidana, but I do think that the way Marcos performed against Floyd Mayweather “Lite,” known to boxing fans as Adrien Broner, has Floyd sensing that Maidana’s confidence has probably never been higher and that he feels invincible right now. And though I don’t feel that Maidana punches hard enough to make Floyd do anything he doesn’t want to do, he won’t be punching at me.

Mayweather knows that Maidana will be swinging for the fence and could be dangerous until he’s either falling down or the fight is over – so in his eyes Maidana has a puncher’s chance against him, something that no one in the world believes Khan has against him. Floyd is certain that once he and Khan are in front of each other, Amir will be a little intimidated by his presence alone. And once they touch hands and Khan feels how much stronger Mayweather is than him physically, Amir’s one weapon, his hand speed, will be blunted because he’ll have reservations about asserting himself and exchanging with Floyd. Once that happens Mayweather will embarrass and humiliate Khan. In turn Khan will then go about his business and try to make it through the fight without bothering Floyd to the point to where he turns it up and forces the fight, looking to win by stoppage.

Mayweather knows Khan is the easier and less risky fight, but that he’ll have cover being that Khan was the choice of the fans. Yeah, right. Can’t you just hear Floyd with Jim Gray saying at center ring after the fight: “You know Jim, I’m a fighting champion. I always give the fans what they want, Khan is the fighter they picked to fight me, so that’s what I did, I fought the man boxing fans chose for me to fight. It’s not my fault that I’m the greatest pound-for-pound fighter ever. I’m unbeaten for a reason, there’s nobody who can beat me!”

No way do I believe the Maidana or Khan fan poll was legitimate. Every poll I saw and everyone I spoke to or corresponded with favored Maidana, with one exception. And the man who said Khan, this from someone I have the utmost respect for regarding his boxing acumen, felt so because Floyd could make the most money fighting Khan across the pond, and he’s correct about that. And even he said it was too close to call because Floyd is in another world as a fighter compared to both Marcos and Amir, which of course he’s right again.

If anyone believes the poll was legit, you probably also believe that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is a legitimate Superfight and the result isn’t a forgone conclusion. Floyd Mayweather not only picked the only horses who could enter the race, he knew who the winner would be before they were out of the gate, in my opinion. Oh, and he also counted on Khan doing his best imitation of Secretariat down the homestretch at the 1973 Belmont to win by 31 lengths, if needed.

There are three fights out there that can be made worth paying for to see Mayweather partake in, and Marcos Maidana and Amir Khan are not on the list. Unless of course you’re not tired of seeing the house cat torture the church mouse, and paying a lot to see it.

It’s amazing that Mayweather has now gotten to the stage in his career when he’s able to do the same cat and mouse torture routine to his fans that he does to his opponents. He continues to get away with it too.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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