Melligen Doing Well, Holding His Own With Maidana
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino light welterweight Mark Jason Melligen did well in two sparring sessions with Argentina’s Marcos Rene Maidana who will be fighting southpaw Victor Ortiz (24-1-1, 19 KO’s) for the World Boxing Association Interim junior welterweight title on June 27.
Longtime Cebu resident and boxing man Tony Martin who is handling Melligen’s training in Las Vegas told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today, Viva Sports that the southpaw Mellugen “more than held his own” against Maidana who has an impressive ring record of 25-1 with 24 knockouts.
Martin said that Maidana “ is really strong and you could see that he was trying to load up with power shots most of the time, but Melligen's defense was so good with good body movements that it was difficult for Maidana to tag him.”
Martin told us that what was more important for him was the fact that Melligen “is becoming more confident in himself as each day passes and this is beginning to show in his sparring and training.”
He said “ I am very happy with his performance and the progress he is making while training here with me.” Martin noted that even Maidana’s trainer Miguel Diaz was more than pleased with his sparring and made the comment that Melligen “is a thinking fighter and good.”
Maidana lost by a split decision in a WBA title fight against champion Andriy Kotelnik last February 7 and his fine showing in that bout earned him the right to an interim title fight against the hard-hitting Ortiz.
