Marcos Maidana on Wednesday during his media day ahead of his clash with Josesito Lopez this weekend (Photo: Chris Robinson – www.HustleBoss.com)
By Chris Robinson
Having a first account of his actions when crude brawler Marcos Maidana first began training at Robert Garcia’s gym in Oxnard, Calif., I could tell how much of a transition the Argentinean was in for.
Maidana (33-3, 30 KO’s) was coming off of a humbling decision loss to Devon Alexander months prior and had enlisted the services of Garcia in hopes of retooling himself as he eyed another title run.
A little over a year later and Maidana is a few days away from another pivotal test, as he will be meeting up with well-seasoned Josesito Lopez (31-1, 18 KO’s) this weekend in a Showtime-televised clash in Carson.
Speaking with Garcia during Wednesday’s media day, we touched on a few storylines, including Maidana’s focus in camp, his memorable sparring sessions with his stable mate Brandon Rios, the challenge Rios faces with his November 23rd clash with Manny Pacquiao, and more.
This is what Garcia had to share.
Watching Maidana progress in camp…
“Every time he’s getting better and better. This is something that I’m not ashamed to say, this is one guy who came to learn, came to listen and he’s getting better and better as the fights keep getting here.”
What kind of fight to expect from Lopez…
“I expect Maidana to show a lot of the things that he’s learned, but, the type of fight that Josesito’s going to bring, it might not be like that. It might just be an all-out war that we’re going to have to fight. I wish it would be a fight where Maidana has shown what he’s learned, but it might not be the case. With Josesito, we might just end up fighting a war.”
Maidana’s sparring sessions with Brandon Rios…
“They were awesome, man. There were times when they sparred up to ten rounds against each other. And we did that about three or four weeks. We had great sparring. They went at it pretty good. There were rounds where I would just close my eyes, because I just couldn’t cheer either one of them. But it was awesome. After sparring, they would both hug each other and Brandon was very, very supportive.”
Making sure Rios doesn’t leave his fight in the gym ahead of his November assignment with Pacquiao…
“No, he’s not burning himself out. People work out and train every day of the year. After Mikey’s fight next week, we’re going to start training to start working on things that I’m going to work with Brandon. Because, we still got five months before the fight. But the training camp won’t start until two months before the fight.”
Whether Pacquiao is temporarily damaged from his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez this past December…
“That’s something we’ll see. We’ll see in November. A lot of fighters can’t take those type of knockouts. Some of them can. We’ll see what Pacquiao we’re going to see inside of the ring.”
Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul Alvarez on September 14th…
“That’s an awesome fight, man. I didn’t think that fight would happen this year. I thought maybe it could happen two, three fights from now for Canelo and Mayweather. But I’m very surprised. I give Mayweather nothing but credit, respect for taking this fight. He could easily have said ‘I’ll fight anybody at welterweight’, because he is a welterweight. But it’s a very risky fight for Mayweather but he’s very smart and he’s the best at this.”
PLEASE CHECK OUT the full interview with Robert Garcia and other exclusive videos below
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Chris Robinson can be reached at Trimond@aol.com