Fabian Maidana is preparing to step out of the shadow of his older brother when on Saturday he fights Mario Barrios. 

The welterweight rivals fight on the undercard of the undisputed super-middleweight title fight between Saul Alvarez and Jaime Munguia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the 31-year-old Maidana does so in the knowledge that it is largely by his brother that he continues to be defined. 

Marcos Maidana retired in 2014 as one of Argentina’s most successful ever fighters, having secured his financial future by giving Floyd Mayweather two of his toughest fights, become the first to defeat the highly regarded Adrien Broner, and against Amir Khan narrowly lost one of the fights of 2010.

Only the date with Broner wasn’t the main event in Vegas, and while the younger Maidana’s fight with the 28-year-old Barrios is lower-profile, he recognises that the attention surrounding Alvarez-Munguia has presented him with a platform on which to widely impress.

“My brother has left an indelible mark in boxing, no doubt about that, and like you said, I’ve come here to leave my own mark,” he said. “To win; to give the fans a great fight; and start my own chapter.

“It’s gonna be fire with fire. Spectacular with two fighters that don’t like each other. I know Mario is aggressive. Most importantly the fans are going to get a great fight.

“I’m so happy that you all came out to see us – to cheer me on. I want to thank you so much, from the heart.”

Barrios, from America, won his past two fights – against Yordenis Ugas and Jovanie Santiago – after successive defeats by Keith Thurman and Gervonta “Tank” Davis, and he explained that he continues to improve as a consequence of those defeats.

“Those fights taught me a lot,” he said. “I set out to try and show the type of fighter I am, and I’m very proud of those performances, even though I came out with a loss. Stepping into this fight, with that experience from those fights – I know everything me and my team has been working on will come into service.

“I’m still going in there with bad intentions. Still going in there a smart fighter. 

“I’m excited. Thank you to everybody for being here. I’m ready. I had a great camp. I know Maidana is coming to win, but I’m gonna do whatever it takes.”

He was then asked for his prediction for the main event, and he responded: “This will be a great fight. You got the two Mexican warriors in there; I’m gonna give it to Canelo off of experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if it went early, but I’m gonna go with Canelo.”