“It is the most important fight of my career and my litmus test”

On an immense stage, as part of one of the most popular cards of the year and with a world crown at stake, Fabián Andrés Maidana (31) will face this Saturday the most important commitment of his life, which will give him the possibility of definitively forging his own name within boxing. The Santa Fe native will challenge the Texan Mario Barrios (28), interim welterweight champion of the World Boxing Councilin the semi-final duel of the evening that will have as its main attraction the clash between Saul Canelo Álvarez y Jaime Munguia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN will broadcast from 9 p.m.).

“It is the most important fight of my career and it is my litmus test”, assured the challenger about this challenge that was offered to him just a month ago. “I was on the couch at home, lying down, watching television. My coach (Cristian Rodríguez) called me and told me there was this opportunity. I immediately said yes. It all happened very quickly. That same weekend I traveled to Las Vegas.” , said the younger brother of Marcos Chino Maidanformer super lightweight and welterweight champion of the World Boxing Association.

That blood link with one of the most outstanding Argentine boxers of recent decades has been an omnipresent fact in his career. TNT He never denied it, although he always tried to ensure that it did not operate like a lead backpack. “My brother was a boxing great and I admire him, but I always made my own path and I am not in anyone’s shadow”he assured in the prelude to his duel with Barrios.

His path had a notable segment in amateurism: he was a bronze medalist in the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games and that same year he was runner-up in the Baku Youth World Cup. Already as a professional (she debuted in June 2014), she made his first eight presentations and 12 of the first 18 in the United States with Sebastian Contursialso his brother’s manager, with whom he Chino It didn’t end well (she accused him of keeping money that belonged to her).

He then worked for a time under the orbit of Chino Maidana Promotions (the company whose visible face is his brother), re-linked with Contursi in 2021 and in 2022 signed a contract with OR Promotions, the company founded in 1988 by Osvaldo Rivero and today managed by his daughter Georgina. It was she who managed this chance that TNT had cherished just under three years ago and which had ended in great frustration.

After having lost his undefeated record against the Colombian Jaider Parra In January 2019 in Mar del Plata (on the first card organized by Chino Maidana Promotions), after having suffered from covid-19 and having gone through a couple of injuries that complicated his career, the fighter born in Margarita was going to fight for the title WBA welterweight with the Cuban Yordenis Ugás on August 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, but 10 days before the fight he had to resign after suffering a dangerous cut in the left orbital region, just below the eye.

To make matters worse, four months after that cancellation, he suffered a strange defeat against the unknown Francisco Mercado: The referee had decreed the disqualification of the Mexican for a headbutt that had caused an injury to Maidana’s forehead, but then the resolution was reversed and the fight was decided on the cards. However, the man from Santa Fe recovered, won four victories and now, at 31 years old, he is at the door of an opportunity as great as it is surprising.

With a record of 22 wins (16 before the limit) and 2 setbacks, and with a style different from that of Chino, in which technique and counterpunching predominate, Maidana occupies 34th place in the WBC ranking and is the owner of that organization’s Latin Continental title. The Council’s rules establish that only fighters ranked among the top 10 in a category can aspire to the title, but exceptions are allowed with the endorsement of the organization’s Board of Governors. Through that crack he slipped TNT to try to make a hit.

Barrios, his rival, was born 28 years ago in San Antonio (a city in which more than 60% of the population is of Hispanic origin), he is the son of Mexican parents, he began boxing at the age of six at the initiative of his mother, He debuted as a professional in November 2013 and already knows the thrill that big stages and big challenges generate.

He Aztecaa very tall fighter for his category (he measures 1.83 meters, against Maidana’s 1.75) was WBA super lightweight champion (he won the crown against the Uzbek Batyr Akhmedov in September 2019) and has owned the belt that he will put into play this Saturday since September of last year, when he outpointed Barking In Las Vegas. His only defeats were against first-line adversaries, the Americans. Gervonta Davis y Keith Thurmanand among his 28 defeated (18 were knocked out) there are two Argentines: the Mendoza Claudio Rosendo Tapia and the jujeño Juan Jose Velasco.

Although the WBC interim title will be at stake in Saturday’s fight, it is likely that the winner will be established as regular champion in a few weeks, since the current monarch, the American Terence Crawford (who also holds the WBA and WBO crowns), will ascend to the super welterweight division to face the Uzbek Israil Madrimov on August 3 in Los Angeles for the Association’s scepter. And whatever the outcome of that lawsuit, it seems extremely unlikely that Crawford will settle back down at 147 pounds.