“Are you wearing them right, Chino?”: Maravilla Martínez challenged Marcos Maidana to a fight

Sergio Martínez is daring, risky and fearless. He has maintained that pace throughout his sporting career and despite his 48 years he still hasn’t let his guard down. In an interview with journalist Leo Benatar, the boxer publicly challenged Marcos Maidana to a fight. Can you imagine the two most important Argentine boxers of recent times together in a ring?

“There Simón says we need an exhibition between Maravilla Martínez and Chino Maidana. No, we need a real fight, a serious fight, Shall we write to Chino to accept that Maravilla is challenging him?”, began the born in Quilmes, who with a comment from a follower lit the fuse for what would come a few seconds later.

Continuing with his proposal, he staked everything by asking the man from Santa Fe for a real fight: “Are you wearing them well, Chino? Do you have what you must have? Do you have them or not? Because I’m encouraged… Shit, I’m already warmed up. Is Chino Maidana encouraged? Because he’s on vacation, he doesn’t want to train … Dear Marcos René Maidana, I’m Sergio Gabriel Maravilla Martínez and I challenge you to box in this 2023, set the date and let’s move on. I’m your fan and follower, but I also challenge you so that you and I, and no one else, enter a ring. What do you say crazy? And be careful I’m fine eh, train Chino, I hope you get ready”.

Marcos Maidana, 39 years and nine younger than Maravilla, hasn’t officially fought since September 13, 2014, when he was defeated by unanimous decision against longtime and undefeated Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In this way Chino retired from professional boxing with 35 fight wins, 31 of which by knockout, and 5 losses. Several times he threatened to return to the ring, even if it was an amateur one, but it never materialized and today he is fully dedicated to being a promoter. Will you accept Sergio Martínez’s challenge?

Marvel’s Last Fight

Sergio Martínez (57-3-2, 32 knockouts) dreamed of it and realized it, who after ten years returned to fight in Argentina, no less than on his debut at Luna Park, where he beat the Colombian John Teherán (18-3- 0.15 ko).

The mythical scenario of national boxing has received the ring again, but like the greats who comb their gray hair and have to adapt to social networks, the Palacio de los Deportes has had to close its doors to the public and open them to the guests of the event of the presentation of the Ringo series. Glory and Death, which premiered Tuesday night on the Star+ signal.

Maravilla’s knockout in March 2023

There was the ringer, of course, and the doorbell. But first they were used to set up a fictitious brawl that gave life, through the screen of the stadium and those of those who attended the signal, to the first delivery of the saga reminiscent of Oscar Bonavena, who challenged Muhammad Ali in the United States (the Huracán fan lost) and at the age of 33 was murdered by a gangster’s bodyguard in a bar in that country where he had gone to make it big.

The main course, of course — at least for boxing — was Maravilla’s sixth fight since returning in 2021 from retiring in 2014 after losing the WBC middleweight title to Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto. The quilmeño, without a scepter at stake, looked to keep adding victories to reach a new World Cup chance, aiming for the WBA.

The former WBC super welterweight and Council and WBO middleweight king entered the ring after midnight, and on Wednesday, at 48, together with rapper Owin and receiving the applause of the guests remaining on the ropes, in front of the big screen, and to one of the managers of the evening, Chino Maidana, now promoter.

The Argentine came out as always, with his guard down, while his coach Tinín Rodríguez asked him in his Spanish accent to lower his right and then his left. And so his target ignored him, so much so that he didn’t get halfway through the first round and with a dirty shot on the right cheekbone he shot the Colombian, who couldn’t get up. KO in the first, less than what, confidentially, the winner had predicted with the newspaper Olé: “The shot in the fourth or fifth”. It lasted 1m27s.

The result was Tehran’s third defeat, all in Argentina. The 38-year-old coffee farmer lost to local Miguel Barrionuevo in Catamarca in 2014 in under three minutes. After a seven-year inactivity, he came back, won three fights and last September was defeated by KO5 by Juan Manuel Taborda of Cordoba at Villa María.