Mayweather, Khan, Broner and Love all win decisions in the US whilst Abraham defends in Germany

This past Saturday was the biggest day in boxing so far this year. It had the biggest name in boxing, it had two men who split opinion like no other, it had one of the most fan friendly fighters in the world, it had a heavy handed champion and it had a major upset.

Of course the day, or rather night, was about money, Floyd "Money" Mayweather (46-0, 26) who faced Argentina slugger Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31) in a WBC/WBA Welterweight unification bout. The contest was widely seen as a mismatch but Maidana made sure to turn it in to a war and gave the #1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet one of, if not the, toughest bout of his career. Maidana took the action to Mayweather and put him under the type of pressure that Mayweather isn't used to. This pressure made the contest compelling from the opening round though unfortunately the scoring left a lot to be desired.

On watching the Mayweather/Maidana bout it seemed Maidana started like a house on fire and Mayweather played catch up. On the scorecards however things were different with two of the judges having Mayweather in the lead from round 3 onwards in what can only be called mystifying. We wouldn't argue with a close Mayweather victory but the cards really left some major question marks. 

Prior to the Mayweather/Maidana bout we had had 3 other bouts on the PPV broadcast. The first of those saw J'Leon Love (18-0-0-1, 10) go through a hell-like 5th round to take a decision over Marco Antonio Periban (20-2-1, 13). The bout was one that had great moments though out felt like Love's jab was the key punch as he took a fair decision, albeit one with odd scores again.

The second bout on the show saw the return to the ring of Adrien Broner (28-1, 22) who over-came Carlos Molina (17-2-1, 7) in a bout that was very competitive despite what the score-cards suggested. The cards were basically filled in before the opening round though Molina gave a great account of himself and really gave Broner a serious test in what was supposed to be little more than a confidence builder for Broner, a former 3-weight world champion. On this performance Broner is there for the taking by any top 10 fighter at 140 or 147.

Whilst the Mayweather/Maidana bout stole the show with some really good action one man who shared the plaudits was Britain's Amir Khan (29-3, 19) who over-came the tough Luis Collazo (35-6, 18) in a mature and controlled performance. Khan showed a new found intelligence to his boxing, holding up close, boxing on the move and and surprisingly dropped Collazo 3 times in a dominant and self assured display. It was one of the best performances of Khan's career, though it was also one of Collazo's worst with the American fighting like an idiot with his hands down.

The whole US card was open for criticism, as seen in Takahiro Onaga's recent "Taka's Title Shot" article, but on the whole the main event was exciting enough, and controversial enough, to keep fans talking about it suggesting it was a show plenty enjoyed even if they aren't in full agreement about the scoring.

Prior to the US action fans had been given the opportunity to see WBO Super Middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (40-4, 28) defend his title for the first time since reclaiming it from Robert Stieglitz. Abraham took on the game, albeit light hitting, Nikola Sjekloca (26-2, 8) and took home a decision. From watching the bout we felt Abraham deserved the victory, despite not looking his best, unfortunately we saw another judge who seemed inept at his job as he scored the contest 119-111 to Abraham, a score was simply indefensible.

(Image courtesy of http://www.sho.com)

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