[ad_1]
Gabriel Maestre has waited practically a decade for his rematch with Eimantas Stanionis.
The fighters are set to lastly meet once more, practically 10 years after their earlier matchup – and this time the stakes are a lot increased. Maestre will face Stanionis in a welterweight world title combat on the undercard of the Saul Alvarez-Jaime Munguia headliner on Could 4 at T-Cell Area in Las Vegas.
Maestre and Staniosis beforehand fought as amateurs in 2015 in Qatar. Stanionis received that combat, however Maestre has all the time hoped to get his revenge.
“That is the combat that I’ve needed for a very long time, and now issues have come full circle,” Maestre stated throughout a latest digital press convention. “We had a really powerful shut combat within the amateurs, and I’m trying ahead to seeing what he has now.”
Maestre, a Venezuelan, thought he would possibly cross paths with Lithuania’s Stanionis when every fought for his nation within the 2016 Olympics, however the matchup by no means materialized.
“We didn’t get an opportunity to combat one another on the Rio Olympics,” Maestre stated. “So I’m actually trying ahead to the chance to combat him within the professionals.”
As a professional, Maestre (6-0-1, 5 KOs) has turned in a number of lackluster performances, together with when he wanted to climb off the ground to win a controversial resolution over Mykal Fox in 2021 and a draw with Taras Shelestyuk in 2022.
However Maestre has since stopped former two-division titleholder Devon Alexander after which, most just lately going through Travon Marshall, stopped the younger prospect within the second spherical of their Showtime Championship Boxing bout final August to regain some profession momentum.
At 37, Maestre is considerably older than the 29-year-old Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs), however the elder opponent has appeared to a countryman, 40-year-old Ismael Barroso, for inspiration. Barroso knocked out Ohara Davies in a single spherical in January, regardless of being the betting underdog.
“I’m not frightened concerning the age distinction,” Maestre stated. “Look what my fellow Venezuelan Ismael Barroso did and what I did in my final combat. We’re going to maintain pushing ahead.”
Lucas Ketelle is a proud member of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America and creator of ‘Inside The Ropes of Boxing’ (obtainable on Amazon). Contact him on X @LukieBoxing
[ad_2]
Source link
