Hopkins: Maidana Really Proved All of The Doubters Wrong!

By CARLOS ARIAS

LAS VEGAS --- Bernard Hopkins marveled at Floyd Mayweather's performance and Maidana's ability to push Mayweather in their fight on Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

"I think that Maidana really proved and showed all the doubters that he was not only capable --- though he didn't get the win --- but to make it a tough fight for Floyd Mayweather," Hopkins said. "Floyd made the adjustments like we do, like veterans do. You know, the IQ, I think that was the edge that Floyd used. He made those adjustments.

"But Maidana, you can't take away his relentless, continued to come forward. That's what he do. That's how he fights. To me, he made it a tough, rough fight and I really expected that. That's the only way he had a chance to offset anything Floyd tried to do or did."

On the day of the fight, Mayweather checked in at 148 pounds, while Maidana blew up to 165 pounds.

"I came from the school of thought that weight don't translate to power," Hopkins said. "He's just bigger and Floyd used that to his advantage also. He neutralized the weight and really made it look like it was in issue between the weight difference. I think in the end it came down to skills. It came down to adjustments and you seen that. We all watched it.

"There were some moments where Maidana did very well. But as the fight went on, and when Floyd wanted to, you seen a whole new different spark here and there where Floyd just stepped into another gear. Where its like, 'Is he just having fun?' Is giving you all a show, because you seen so many gears getting shifted from the first round all the way to the 12th."

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