WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. has just announced that he will be facing WBA champion Marcos Maidana on May 3rd, likely from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The event will headline a Showtime Pay-Per-View event.
"I will be fighting Marcos Maidana May 3rd on pay-per-view Showtime/CBS," Mayweather announced on his official Twitter page.
Mayweather (45-0, 26KOs) is coming off two dominating performances in 2013, with twelve round decision wins over Saul Alvarez and Robert Guerrero.
Maidana (35-3, 31KOs) had the best year of his career, with a sixth round stoppage of Josesito Lopez in a fight filled with fireworks last June. He returned six months later to get the biggest win of his career, with a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated and heavily favored Adrien Broner. Maidana dropped Broner twice in the fight.
Mayweather and Broner are close friends, with Broner often being touted as the second-coming of the pound-for-pound king. That angle will likely become the backbone of the Mayweather-Maidana promotional buildup.
Amir Khan was long considered to be the frontrunner to get the fight, but Maidana came into the fold when he knocked off Broner with an unexpected power-punch performance.
