Picture the scene: a big-time title fight takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This fight is a rematch between heated rivals. There is excitement in the air after the first fight left fans wanting more, as if it were a story with a cliffhanger ending.

The bell rings, and the fight is on. It is a matchup the audience has been anticipating for months. In all the action and excitement, suddenly there is chaos. The fight takes an unexpected turn when one fighter bites the other. Does this sound familiar? No, this wasn’t a fight between “Iron” Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.  This is not 1997.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather defended his world welterweight and light middleweight titles against Marcos “El Chino” Maidana last Saturday, Sept. 13 in a rematch of their clash for the same titles this past May.

While the fight didn’t involve detached ears and impressions of “Walkers” from the Walking Dead television series, there was plenty of controversy in the middle of the eighth round when Mayweather broke out of a hold, claiming that Maidana had bit him on the fingers through his glove. “He bit me!” Mayweather yelled to referee Kenny Bayless. However, Bayless couldn’t penalize Madaina because he hadn’t seen the bite and there was no evidence of bite marks in Mayweather’s glove, much to the champion’s chagrin.

Replays of the incident show Mayweather cupping Maidana’s mouth with his glove while he had the challenger in a pseudo headlock. “Old school boxing tricks at play, sometimes you have to fight dirty,” Showtime color commentator Paulie Malignaggi exclaimed on the PPV broadcast. This begs the question; doesn’t an eye for an eye make the world blind?

The bite seemed to be an act of retaliation and frustration to Mayweather’s actions. Once the king of knockout victories, those who have followed his career the past few years know this is classic Mayweather. His trademark has been to duck and weave for the majority of the time as his opponent wears down and he counter punches with deadly accuracy. This strategy is effective in getting into his opponents heads, leaving them frustrated and exhausted, essentially becoming puppets. Mayweather, of course, plays the role of puppeteer.

While definitely not a tactic that pleases the crowd, they are very effective and it is the main reason that, at 37-years-old, the 10-time world champion has remained undefeated after an 18-year career, with a record of 47-0, including 26 knockouts, while bouncing between five different weight classes.

While the first fight between Mayweather and Maidana was a knockout, drag ‘em out brawl, this encounter was surgical and precise and was a relatively easy win for Mayweather. One judge scored it 115-112, and the other two scored it 116-111, in a unanimous decision in Mayweather’s favor.

Love him or hate him, Mayweather is undeniably the best fighter of this generation, and with only two more fights left in his contract with Golden Boy promotions, he has announced that he will retire and stick to promoting when those obligations are met.

With that being said, in the sport of boxing everything must be taken with a grain of salt. Who will he choose for those last two fights — up-and-comer Amir Khan, perhaps? Or will the matchup all fight fans have been clambering and begging for finally happen? Will this generation’s two greatest fighters Mayweather and the WBO welterweight champion Manny “Pac Man” Pacquaio put aside all their differences and stop with the excuses and finally square off?

It would certainly benefit the sport as a whole and put the money in Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

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