Mario Barrios bumbled his way to a unanimous decision victory over Fabian Maidana after 12 exhausting rounds. Barrios got his best moment in the third when he managed a lucky straight right hand that floored Maidana like a ton of bricks. Despite being down, Maidana, Marcos Maidana’s little brother and a glutton for punishment, clawed his way up and made it to the final bell.
“Maidana fought hard for 12 rounds, just like I expected,” Barrios croaked, sounding more like a man groping in the dark. “Once my eye swelled up like a grapefruit, I couldn’t see straight. But hey, fundamentals, openings, blah, blah, we nicked the win.”
Maidana, playing the sympathy card, complained about his lack of training time before heroically pledging to return stronger and drag a world title back to Argentina. “No excuses though, I’m coming back,” he grunted.
Barrios’ right eye swelled like a melon halfway through, but he still outpunched Maidana 139 to 84 over the 12 rounds, landing more blows in all but one. After 12 slogging rounds, the judges had it 116-111 across the board, with Barrios hanging on to his welterweight title.
“I want all the smoke at welterweight,” Barrios boasted. “I’m chasing belts. Viva Mexico!”
Elsewhere, Brandon Figueroa obliterated Jessie Magdaleno with a body shot in the ninth, retaining his Interim WBA Featherweight title. Magdaleno started strong, but Figueroa quickly snuffed out any hope, wearing him down before unleashing a left hook that left Magdaleno crumpled on the canvas.
“I just had to be patient,” Figueroa said smugly. “Waited for the right moment, then boom.”
Magdaleno, nursing his bruised ribs, lamented, “I’m more annoyed ‘cause it was a close fight. But once you’re hit in the right spot, you’re down.”
Meanwhile, Eimantas Stanionis returned from hibernation to snag a unanimous decision win over Gabriel Maestre, a rematch from their amateur days. Stanionis, admitting some rust, still clocked 41% of his shots. Maestre threw over 100 more power punches but barely landed any.
“I was just okay,” Stanionis shrugged. “Next time, I’ll be better.”
And kicking off the chaos, Vito Mielnicki Jr. put Ronald Cruz down twice en route to a comfortable unanimous decision victory.
