Mayweather suffered a brutal cut over his right eye from a head-butt during the fourth round, but his cutman, Rafael Garcia, managed to stop the bleeding. Mayweather took some shots at Maidana after the fight for hitting below the belt, but was mostly gracious.
”It was a tough, competitive fight,” Mayweather said. “I gave the fans what the fans wanted to see. Normally, I box and move. Finally, I was in a tough, competitive fight. Tonight, I wanted to stand there and fight and give the fans their money’s worth.”
Mayweather pocketed a guaranteed $32 million, plus his share of revenue if the fight scores big on pay-per-view. Maidana’s earnings include $1.5 million plus Argentinian TV rights and PPV upside. The PPV tally was not expected to be a blockbuster with most projecting something closer to the 1 million buys, according to Showtime, for Mayweather’s May 2013 fight against Roberto Guererro versus the massive 2.2 million PPV buys for his September fight against Canelo Alvarez. The fight did post the fourth biggest live gate in the history of Las Vegas boxing with $15 million.
Saturday’s fight was so good that many were calling for a rematch for later in the year.
“If the fans want to see it again, we’ll do it again,” Mayweather said. Mayweather is expected to be back in the ring in September for the fourth fight in the six-fight, $200 million-plus blockbuster pact he signed with Showtime in 2013. Saturday’s fight will air on Showtime on Saturday and the network is running a free preview weekend that will make the premium network available in 74 million homes.