Al Bernstein: “You would be hard pressed to pick against Floyd Mayweather in a rematch with Maidana, simply because he’s so good at adjusting.”

17 Submitted by on Sun, 11 May 2014, 22:30

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Hall of Fame commentator, Al Bernstein. Al is one of the most well known and respected analysts in the game. The topics discussed in this interview include, the scoring and refereeing of Floyd Mayweather’s bout with Marcos Maidana, as well as a potential rematch between the two. Lastly, Al Bernstein spoke about Manny Pacquiao and if he believes Pacquiao holds a better chance of defeating Mayweather now. Here is what Al Bernstein had to say in part 2 of his interview.

Robert Brown: What did you think of Floyd Mayweather’s performance against Maidana?

Al Bernstein: I thought Floyd Mayweather backed himself up against the ropes at the beginning of this fight, it wasn’t all Maidana. It was intriguing that Mayweather came out so tentative in this fight, it was almost shocking to me — not using the ring, letting himself get back.

Of course if you give Maidana a start like that, he’s methodical, but we have to give Floyd Mayweather huge credit for after he got cut from the clash of heads — first time he’s truly been cut in his career. He was heading into round 4 — where in theory if that fight had been stopped because of the cut, he could have lost on a decision. Also he acknowledged later that he was having a hard time seeing because of that cut for a little while.

He came back and not only showed fortitude but also what we expect from Floyd Mayweather, which is a brilliant tactical fighter. He was able to get the fight in the center of the ring, he started working Maidana’s body — and that was really important and we made note of that in the fight.

Maidana’s the big body puncher, but I said this about round 4 or 5, “Don’t diminish what Mayweather has done to the body of Maidana,” and sure enough, it really paid dividends because Maidana slowed down a lot in the mid to late rounds and that was why Mayweather was able to come back and do well.

The second part of this is the question of fouling and Tony Weeks. If you are a Mayweather guy — and Mayweather himself said it, even though he said he still loves Tony Weeks and just thought he had an off night — then you look at it and say, “Maidana hit him low a bunch of times. He should have had a point taken away. The clash of heads was intentional, he was roughing Floyd up and Tony Weeks should have taken a point away.”

If you are Maidana or a Maidana supporter you say, “Boy, Mayweather held so much. Shouldn’t there have been a point deducted from him for holding? He was constantly holding.” Either way, somebody could be mad at Tony Weeks.

Then you get to the judging. I thought it was more in the Michael Pernick camp of 114-114 or Mayweather winning 115-113 or something along those lines, but one of the judges had it 117-111, which is a 9-3 fight I guess, then there’s 116-112.

If you saw the fight the way Brian Kenny in our broadcast did, you saw Mayweather land the cleaner more meaningful punches and boxing well. If you saw it differently, what you saw was Marcos Maidana getting inside, landing lots of body punches and obviously those overhand rights to the head and even though it was ugly, you had to give him credit for punches he was landing, but that’s wherein lies the problem — when it’s a messy fight like that, it’s hard to tell. This fight is very much one that can be seen through many prisms.

Robert Brown: For the people who thought Maidana won, is it that we’re so used to Mayweather dominating fights that when there are close fights perhaps we see more than what is going on?

Al Bernstein: Yeah maybe, but I think truthfully Maidana was in a position to win 6 rounds in this fight — 5 for sure and then once you get to 6 or 7 — I think there’s a case for Maidana winning this fight by a very narrow margin. I had a round even, so I ended up with a 115-114 for Mayweather.

You can make the case that Maidana may have won if you can find a way to give him 7 rounds — you can certainly give him 5, and he should get 5. I don’t think it’s just the perception that gives you a chance to say Maidana won.

Robert Brown: Apart from the Canelo fight, Mayweather spent a lot more time on the ropes in recent times. Do you think Floyd’s legs are starting to go?

Al Bernstein: Right, he has. Against Canelo — and to some degree against Guerrero — he did get off the ropes a lot more, but up to that point he had been staying on the ropes. In this fight he backed himself there. Maidana was coming forward but the question is, can he? By the end of the fight Mayweather was fighting better off the ropes — part of that was Maidana was a little more fatigued and so he wasn’t able to be as effective.

Normally when Mayweather is against the ropes, you just don’t hit him very much. Maidana did. I think there are some adjustments Maidana can make, for instance, we saw in the latter part of this fight the jab that Garcia has helped worked with him. For some reason early in the fight — and it would have helped him had he been jabbing his way in, instead of just bull rushing in.

He was jabbing in the second part of the fight because they were in the center of the ring. It wasn’t as if it was that effective and it landed all the time, but it did help him, especially in the last several rounds, those were certainly close rounds. It helped him when he was jabbing his way in, so I think there might be some adjustments that he can make, and a big one is that jab, to be committed to it.

He didn’t show it enough this fight, and if he does show it better in the second fight, it may help him get on the inside. You would be hard pressed to pick against Floyd Mayweather in a second fight, simply because he is so good at adjusting, but I don’t think it would ever be an easy fight against Maidana.

Robert Brown: I’ve always seen Mayweather as a rhythm fighter. In my opinion, as Paulie Malignaggi said on the call, you can’t time Maidana as easy as you can other fighters.

Al Bernstein: Yeah he’s got an awkward style, there’s no question about that, and that makes him a little more difficult for Mayweather, and that’s something he’s gonna face moving forward.

Robert Brown: I wanna talk about Manny Pacquiao. He had a very impressive win over Timothy Bradley. Do you think Bradley let the public pressure get to him in this fight, causing him to go for the knockout too much?

Al Bernstein: Well I think conduced himself at some point and Joel Diaz kept alluding to the fact that he may need a knockout to win because they felt there might be backlash due to the fact that many didn’t believe the first decision should have gone to him, and the judges may have felt the need to right a wrong.

Coupled with the injury — which effected his mobility — that made him be more stationary and try to throw big bombs, and obviously it was a mistake.

Robert Brown: Does the performance that Pacquiao had against Bradley and Mayweather’s performance against Maidana change your opinion on who would win a mega bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao at this stage?

Al Bernstein: Not so much, I think because Maidana is a certain kind of a fighter. I used to think Pacquiao had a much better chance to beat Mayweather, but he’s not as much of a volume puncher now and although his performance in the Bradley fight and against Rios, he showed the combination punching and some lateral movement — which I think is important.

He’s gotta overwhelm Mayweather with volumes of punches and not get hurt, and I think Mayweather will hit him with right hands and I think Mayweather is gonna be able to land punches against Pacquiao, that’s the big issue. It hasn’t really changed my mind, I would still favor Mayweather in the fight.

Written by

17 Responses to "Al Bernstein: “You would be hard pressed to pick against Floyd Mayweather in a rematch with Maidana, simply because he’s so good at adjusting.”"
  1. Kenneth says:

    amazing article, posted on an amazing website.

  2. reyocs says:

    FLOYD MAYWEATHER NEVER FIGHT THE PACMAN..
    BECA– USE FLOYD IS SO SCARED IN THE BOXING GLOVES

  3. floydcot says:

    respect to Mr. Bernstein, but if this fight will happen this is just another roger mayweather-julio cesar chavez fight. Floyd knew it that’s why he makes million nonesense excuses .

  4. james says:

    o cÍ´mon bernstein mayweather can hit what?.pacquiao ?. in maidana fight he doesnt even landed clean shot to bring maidana into trouble in fact pacman is 10x faster than chino.bet ur career man if gayweather realize that he need pac to. cement his legacy .

  5. kdd says:

    Bernstein flip flops..he said he would favor pacquiao few yrs ago now he would favor mayweather…why because he is in showtime? no creditability

  6. balagtas says:

    That is what so called expert used to predicts when Pacquiao fights against boxers and big gay. But Pacman always shows them wrong. If Mayweather indid thought that he can win against Pacman, why he used to produced different excuses and change his demand everytime.

  7. shtclljm says:

    I think Al Bernstein should retire!

  8. Barry Gil R. Pilar says:

    …mAnny is not a volume-puncher now?, nah!…bernstein talks stupid things, maybe he forgets that floyd is hell-scared to fight pacquiao. The boxing community knows that gayfloyd is afraid to face pacquiao and he’s fear is legit because manny has the capacity to knock him out anytime/anywhere. if the fight will be on im pretty sure manny will train hard to death and even if respected analyts and boxing afficionados will presuppose that manny will lost in the fight i am 100% sure that floyd will have a hard time agaisnt manny.The viscious combinations of pacquiao is very dangerous to ignore. I do hope floyd will not make a mistake in fighting the great southpaw of the pacific!…

  9. Sonny of Sydney says:

    Al, the Mayweather family studied and analyzed Pac more than anybody else including yourself. Boxing is all they’ve got and with the brains of Sr, Roger , Jeff and lil floyd constantly converging, still, after 6 years they arrive at same conclusion – Pac will BASH lilfloyd. That is the bottom line – Pweh!

  10. DefG says:

    MR. Bernstein, u moron, use your brain,

    the referree cant penalize Maidana for hitting floyd low blows,

    COZ COWARD FLOYD HAS NO BALLS!!

  11. Glen says:

    I respect Al’s opinion. But I disagree on volume of punches. Before Maidana, most , if not all, tried to out muscles Floyd but end up empty handed. They tried punches after punches…. Volumes? Too much volumes of punches yet did not succeed. Because it’s not really about the volume. It’s how you place your punches. Over right, semi hook slopping downward direction caught Floyd. Add a little variation to it to confused Floyd will help out. Same punches that humiliated boisterous Broner. So, a well timed and well placed punch is better than volume of punches that land in the mid air. Now that Pacquiao had a blue print, Floyd is more vulnerable… But we already knew Floyd will never fight Manny. So it won’t happen really.

  12. eths says:

    Bernstein has a point and everyone has his own view. Pacquiao needs to be liked he used to which is to throw a lot of punches (especially that he punches in weird angles) to give Mayweather problems and add more power to his punches. Both may not have performed spectacularly with their respective opponents because of the power that their opponents possess.

  13. pikkon says:

    How to convince Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquaio?…Does Al Berstein has the formula?… Boxing fans all over the world wanted one fight to see before these two guys retire..Would it happen?..It’s up to Floyd Mayweather..99% of boxing writers believe Floyd would beat Manny but Floyd still wont fight him..How come?..As a business man as his name “money” suggest he should take the fight with $150M for himself alone then retire…

  14. Tedceldor says:

    Boxing is all about business nowadays. Gone are the glorious fights. Too sad.

  15. Mon Pelaez says:

    Dont forget guys Mannys volume punching is more precise, accurate and hitting the target at will compare to maidana who just wrestled himself in not hitting much the target. Just releasing punches with out accuracy though im giving credit to maidana for his effort which at least paid off in round 1 to 8. Since his the champion he should have won the fight or a draw at least. It should have been a 7 to 5 in favor of maidana.
    Back to manny. Manny was smarter and just being cautious in a lot of times, during his last bout with with bradley, bradley was pretending his worn out to catch manny a knocking punch manny knew this… Mannys speed, punches and lateral movement are still there and will still trouble gay weather a lot of times though punches may not be that hard but it will still gain points and score. His punches still hurts and that is what may weather is afraid off. Manny will hurt him hard…

  16. hagire says:

    To Mr. Bernstein and B-hop,

    May I have your opinion why the chimp AKA The Best Ever is not fighting the PACMAN that would
    break all the PPV records and getting a lot of money, and also clearing himself of ducking issues
    on PACMAN. Maybe his so called TBE will have more sense after showing the world that he defeated the PACMAN. Is that fear or he has no balls at all.