By Luis Sandoval
While the fight has not been officially announced, a rematch between the sports pound for pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Marcos “Chino” Maidana looks likely to take place on September 13th at a site yet to be determined. Mayweather himself said he would be fighting Maidana a second time when he was interviewed at the BET Awards red carpet last week.
Their first encounter proved to be an exciting affair but the big story heading into the fight was there was probably not going to be a fight at all as Team Mayweather had an issue with the gloves Maidana was going to use in the fight. The padding in Maidana’s custom Everlast MX gloves were called into question by Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe and even a second pair approved by the commission was rejected by Team Mayweather.
After much uncertainty the fight went ahead as planned with Maidana still being able to wear Everlast gloves but using a different style; he wore Everlast Power Lock instead of the Mexican style MX.
If a rematch happens, you have to imagine Maidana will still not be allowed to wear the MX gloves. BoxingScene spoke to Maidana’s trainer Robert Garcia and was asked if they would be okay wearing different gloves again.
“I think there won’t be a fight if we say ‘no, we’re fighting in MX [gloves]. I don’t think there [will] be a fight; I don’t think there was going to be a fight back in May. We were pretty much forced but the Power Lock is a good glove but we have to get used to it. I actually told [Everlast Representative]Ernest [Gabion] to send me all the gloves that are actually sanctioned by the commission so we could try different options. So Ernest is going to send me different 8 oz gloves that are sanctioned by the commission so we could pick which ones we’re going to use. Of course it’s not going to be the MX but the other ones,” Garcia would tell BoxingScene.
According Gabion, the difference between both gloves is the MX gloves are a foam and horse hair glove made in Mexico which has softer leather and is considered a pure punchers glove.
The Power Lock is an all foam glove with a stitched thumb for optimal thumb positioning making it extremely streamlined; slightly smaller and compact. The Power Lock glove is also considered a punchers glove as it was also worn by Josesito Lopez when he broke Victor Ortiz’s jaw and by Ruslan Provodnikov when he badly hurt Timothy Bradley in their fight.
The change in gloves is something Garcia will be fine with but he points out that he just needs to have his fighter become accustomed to the gloves and actually train in them.
“Everlast has great gloves. Power Lock gloves are great. Our other fighters are actually preferring Power Lock over MX. But in [the Mayweather] fight, Maidana had never in his life wore the Power Lock. When he put his hand in the glove it was a little uncomfortable. We actually had to put Vaseline on the gauze so we could slide it in since the gauze was thick. So we’re going to try out different gloves and maybe we will go with the Power Lock. I don’t mind, they’re good gloves but we just have to use them in training and Maidana is comfortable wearing them,” said Garcia.
Everlast themselves will do their part and do whatever it takes to make sure they provide Maidana gloves that are comfortable for him and will allow the fight to happen without any glove controversy arising again.
“We’re already been in discussions with Team Maidana as to the glove options. We’re investigating that further and overall what’s best for Maidana is what we’re going to do. And as long as they make the fight happen, that’s important to us and we’ll accommodate Maidana in anyway,” said West Coast representative Ernest Gabion.
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter & Instagram @Truewest007.
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