Maidana Sparring With Brandon Rios For The Lopez Clash

By Luis Sandoval

Hard hitting Marcos Maidana will make his return to the ring after nearly 6 months when he takes on the “Riverside Rocky” Josesito Lopez in a highly anticipated Welterweight clash June 8th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. Both fighters are known for their crowd pleasing styles and this fight promises to deliver fireworks.

Maidana has been working hard in preparation for this fight as he’s already been in Oxnard training for almost 2 months. One interesting thing Maidana revealed when he spoke to BoxingScene at the kickoff press conference for his fight is that he has been sparring with Brandon Rios.

“Yes, we already worked together. We have already done 3 sparring sessions and everything is good. We work well together. He helps me and so if I need to help him for his fight with [Manny] Pacquiao that won’t be a problem” Maidana would tell BoxingScene.

In the past Rios had expressed his desire to fight Maidana who he felt would give him the war he so desperately wanted. Those plans would eventually have to change as Rios’ trainer Robert Garcia was tabbed to train Maidana and soon joined the Garcia’s stable. The next best thing Rios could ask for was sparring Maidana and even though Garcia initially was against the idea of both men squaring off with head gear and bigger gloves, he finally gave in.

“It’s always great sparring because when Maidana first came in last year Brandon was all excited [saying] We're going to spar!". I never wanted them to spar but for this fight Brandon just fought and Brandon came in and said 'You know what Robert, please give me a chance to help him out. I know Josesito is going to give him a tremendous fight and is going to him a brawl. Let me be part of it'.  And yes, I allowed it and Brandon is doing his best at helping him out as much as he can” said Robert Garcia.

A member of Garcia’s gym informed me that the sparring session was almost spontaneous as Rios showed up at the gym and asked to spar with Maidana and the rest is history. With Rios recently landing a fight with Pacquiao in November, both men are providing each other with great work.

For Maidana, he takes the sparring as good preparation for his upcoming fight and described the sparring sessions between him and Rios.

“We worked very good. At times it was intense but at times it was smoother. But it was very good work” said the Argentinean.

Both Maidana and Josesito have said they are working extremely hard in the gym and both expect a tough fight on June 8th. At the moment, Maidana is using every resource available to him and one of the best resources he has is a fighter named Brandon Rios. What we wouldn’t give to be able to witness those sparring sessions.

You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter @Truewest007. You can also tune in to BoxingScene Radio, Boxingscene’s official audio show every Tuesday from 6-8PM PST with hosts Ernest Gabion, Luis Sandoval, and Ryan Burton.