By Rick Reeno
MGM Grand, Las Vegas - This Saturday night, WBC/WBA welterweight and junior middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26KOs) will face Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31KOs) in a rematch. Mayweather won a twelve round majority decision in the May fight.
The upcoming showdown with Maidana will be the first rematch for Mayweather since the two fight series with Jose Luis Castillo in 2001. Mayweather won a twelve round unanimous decision over Castillo in their first fight and the accomplished the same feat in the rematch. There were many fans, and writers, who scored the first meeting in favor of Castillo.
Because the fight with Maidana is only the second rematch of Mayweather's career, the controversy over the first Castillo decision has resurfaced.
"I'm being honest, everybody keeps embarking on the first Castillo fight. I beat him and I know I beat him and everybody knows I beat him. Like I said before, with my situation from the beginning of my career - I'm fighting the biased fans, the biased writers, the biased critics. This has been going on since I've been a kid. I've been faced with jealousy and envy from the beginning but I can get through anything. I stay focused on what I have to do, which is boxing - that's my craft," Mayweather said.