Floyd Mayweather vs Marcos Maidana News: ‘El Chino’ Is a Very Dangerous Opponent, Says Leonard Ellerbe

Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe dismissed speculation that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will have a walk in the park in his upcoming showdown with Marcos Maidana on May 3 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The Mayweather-Maidana title unification bout is being criticized by boxing analysts who believe that the fight is a mismatch, but Ellerbe insists that Maidana is a dangerous opponent.

Ellerbe said in a BoxingScene interview on Monday that Maidana, the reigning WBA welterweight champion, is the biggest puncher Mayweather has faced.

As proof, Ellerbe cited Maidana's excellent knockout percentage. The 30-year-old Argentinian boxer has 35 wins in his professional career, and 31 of those were knockout victories.

"In my opinion, he is the biggest puncher that Floyd has faced. Maidana is the biggest puncher that Floyd has faced until this point, in my opinion. He has one of the highest knockout percentages that's out there," Ellerbe said.

Ellerbe pointed out that Maidana has been in entertaining fights, citing his previous fight against Adrien Broner. Maidana was a heavy underdog heading into the fight, but he knocked down the then-unbeaten Broner in rounds two and eight en route to a unanimous decision win.

"Like I said, he's never, ever not in an entertaining fight," Ellerbe said. "And when he touches people...just go back and look at the Broner fight. It was the second round, he doesn't even really turn the shot over, it was more of a grazing shot and obviously Broner was f---ed up and he didn't recover."

Ellerbe also added that Mayweather has been training hard for his next fight, knowing that there is no room for complacency because he is aware Maidana can pull off a monumental upset in their May 3 fight.

"This guy, he could fight his ass off, hands down," Ellerbe said of Maidana. "I don't pay any attention to no odds because we're in a fight. This guy comes to fight, he's busy, he has a very unorthodox style and anything can happen in a fight."