Thaboxingvoice.com caught up with trainer Robert Garcia. Garcia trains so many top fighters, the kind fans want to see as many times as possible, and he is going to undoubtedly have another big year in 2015.
One fighter that many are interested in is Marcos “Chino” Maidana, who is coming off of his second loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. this past September. There have been a number of names thrown around lately as potential opponents for Maidana’s comeback fight.
Garcia seems eager to get Maidana back into the ring against another high quality opponent, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him in against a soft touch before fighting a big named opponent.
Maidana’s stock is at an all-time high right now and Garcia knows it. Even though Maidana has a crowd pleasing style, the kind that matches well with almost anyone, his handlers will want to get him in the right fight for the most money possible.
“There are so many big fights out there for Chino,” Garcia told Thaboxingvoice.com. “Keith Thurman is one of them. The rematch with Amir Khan [is another]. There are so many [fights out there]. If you ask Chino he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao. It’s all up to his management team to do something right, but there’re a lot of big fights out there [for Maidana].”
Now that Golden Boy and Top Rank are working together again it seems plausible that a fight between Maidana and Pacquiao can at the very least be entertained or negotiated, but there are plenty of interesting matchups.
Maidana was scheduled to fight Thurman a few years ago, but a supposed injury forced Maidana to pull out. It was later learned that Maidana was dissatisfied with the matchup against an unknown (at the time) Thurman and felt like it wasn’t worth it. He may have had a point, but things have evolved since then and now Thurman is more than worthy enough – he’s also become more dangerous, too.
Khan defeated Maidana in December of 2010, but it was a very exciting fight. Khan dominated early and sent Maidana to the canvas with a body shot in round 1, but Maidana rallied later in the fight and even had Khan in trouble at one point. Even with a point deduction in round 5, Maidana was able to close the gap on the scorecards, but ended up losing the unanimous decision.
