Skip to content
Home » Garcia talks Maidana camp, referee and Mayweather rematch tactics

Garcia talks Maidana camp, referee and Mayweather rematch tactics

Maidana put in an impressive performance against the pound for pound king in May to become only the second fighter to earn a second chance at Mayweather and Garcia is delighted how things have gone in preparation for the Las Vegas return.

“Well, training camp is going great. We’ve been training hard, sparring well. We have great sparring partners, and everybody’s doing a great job. Everybody in the gym, the whole team-not only myself and Maidana, but everybody that makes Team Maidana-everybody’s doing their job, and so far everything’s great,” said Garcia.

“We’ve had a full training camp this time around. We’re not short on sparring rounds. I’m not short on legwork. I’m not short on anything. We had our full eight weeks of training camp, so training camp is better than ever-I think the best training camp I’ve had with Chino since he got to me.

“We had about five weeks for the first fight, and even though Chino came in already semi in shape, it was still not the same. This time he came here nine weeks before the fight, since we started training full camp. We had a good eight weeks of training, so I think that it’s going to make a big difference. Five weeks compared to eight weeks of training makes a big difference for this type of fight, and I think with everything that he’s doing and learning new things, they’re going to see a different fight this time.”

Talk in the build-up has been focused on both fighters attempting to go for the knockout, with Maidana and Mayweather stating that they hope for an early finish at some point. Garcia is not focusing his efforts on a stoppage though as is going into the fight expecting to go the full twelve rounds.

“(It’s not certain a knockout will happen) definitely not. We could also win by decision,” he pointed out. “Like “Chino” just said, it would be very nice to get a knockout, but if we win the rounds the way we were doing the first half of the fight I think there’s no question that we could also win the fight by decision.

“Maidana is going to come in with an aggressive style that nobody, not even the best boxer can get away with, and Mayweather’s not going to get away with it.

“Maidana is going to pressure, and he’s going to be the fighter that everybody wants to see. I think in this case the rematch benefits us because Mayweather can’t do much more different things. We can, and we are, and the rematch benefits us.

“We are fighting the way we did the first fight with the pressure. But like Chino has said, we need to have a little more distance, a little more control in his punches, and we are working on that. His punches are thrown a lot more accurate, straighter punches, and our sparring partners are telling us that this time around they feel the power even harder than they did the first time. So he’s actually listening and doing the job that he’s supposed to be able to make those changes.”

The referee for the bout has been named as the experienced Kenny Bayless taking over from Tony Weeks, who had a tough job in the first clash keeping Maidana and Mayweather a clean affair. Garcia just wants Maidana to be give a fair shake to imply his tactics and says Bayless has the credentials to be a success on fight night at the MGM Grand.

“I think that Tony did a great job in the first fight,” stated Garcia. “Kenny Bayless is also a great ref. He’s done a lot of championship fights, so he’s experienced, and I have no problem with him. Nobody knew who the ref was, and Mayweather by starting to announce that Maidana is a dirty fighter, Maidana is an MMA fighter, well that was pretty much already preparing whoever the ref was going to be to see that and to have that in his mind.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a big difference because Kenny is a professional. He knows. He’s done a lot of fights and he has to be fair. It’s a fight between two fighters. Kenny’s a great ref, and I know he’s going to do a great job.”

Mayweather v Maidana 2 is live on Showtime PPV on September 13 and BoxNation in the UK. To subscribe click BoxNation

Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay for tweets of upcoming news on WBN