Maidana's Latest Punch: Mayweather Is A Baby Girl

(ap)

The punches just keep on coming. Right after setting foot on Argentinean soil, Marcos Maidana continued ranting about Saturday night’s fight and the man who took away from him the unified welterweight title.

“Mayweather is a baby girl, all the time trying to find excuses," he said amid a swirl of journalists upon landing early Tuesday on Ezeiza, Argentina. "Rivals who fight him are intimidated with the show he puts on but it is not what it seems,” he told Clarín newspaper. “Every time I hit him he did not know to do," he added.

When asked about a possible rematch, Maidana said : "I want a rematch now."

On Saturday night's fight in Las Vegas, Maidana did everything but beat Floyd Mayweather Jr, taking him 12 tough rounds before losing a majority decision.

Mayweather remained unbeaten, but not by much. Maidana swarmed all over him from the opening bell and gave him perhaps his toughest fight in a 16-year professional career.

“It was a bit uncomfortable in the first half but then I did my job to accommodate myself," Maidana, nicknamed “El Chino” back home, said to Clarín.

He also replied to Justin Bieber, who had accused him of using unfair methods in Saturday’s fight. "To win a fight you have to do everything, but that knee slipped."

In the end, Mayweather got the win — just as he did in his previous 45 fights. He retained his welterweight title by winning 117-111 on one scorecard and 116-112 on another. A third judge had it even, at 114-114.

Maidana threw far more punches, but Mayweather was more accurate with his as the two battled into the late rounds with the fight still very much in doubt. Cheered on by a large contingent of Argentine fans, Maidana took the fight to Mayweather, who was cut by the right eye in the fourth round by an accidental head butt.

"It was a tough, competitive fight," Mayweather said. "I normally like to go out there and box and move. But he put pressure on me. I wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see so I stood and fought him.

Maidana complained about being forced to fight with gloves he didn't want to use when the two camps engaged in a standoff over gloves at the rules meeting a day earlier.

"If I would have had my gloves I would have knocked him out," Maidana said. "They took away my advantage."

Mayweather, who earned $32 million for the fight, was a 6-1 favorite coming to remain unbeaten. He had picked Maidana as an opponent because Maidana beat Adrien Broner in an upset in December, but he almost made the wrong pick.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.