Marcos Maidana Heavily Praised By Mexican Boxing Legends

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (L) of the U.S. and Marcos Maidana of Argentina hold a media conference following their WBC/WBA welterweight unification fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 3, 2014. REUTERS/Steve Marcus REUTERS/Steve Marcus

Marcos Maidana has obviously made a good impression with his boxing skills because he was heavily praised by Mexican boxing legends.

Julio Cesar Chavez, Erik Morales, Israel Vazquez, and Raul Marquez were singing Maidana's praises in a recent interview with Fight Hype. Chavez, who is considered as one of the greatest Mexican boxers, said that Maidana may not be a technical fighter but he is dangerous, fearless, brave, and powerful. The three-division six-time world champion admitted that he was amazed how dauntless and gutsy Maidana was in his first fight with the unbeaten American boxer. "He squared up in front of Mayweather and just went at it with everything he had," Chavez said. According to Chavez, Maidana is a more like a brute force fighter who rely on power and force more than others. "He is brave and powerful and from the moment he steps into the ring, he fights like there is no tomorrow."

Erik Morales, on the other hand, said that Maidana is the epitome of a true Mexican warrior. Morales said that he witnessed how Maidana put all of his effort in his fight with Mayweather in May. "I remember watching the first Mayweather vs. Maidana fight back in May and I can say, Maidana left his heart in the ring," Morales said. "He fights with passion and aggressiveness, he leaves it all out." Morales is the first boxer to win titles in four different weight classes, such as the World Boxing Council (WBC) Light Welterweight, WBC and International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Featherweight, WBC Featherweight , and WBC and World Boxing Organization (WBO) Super Bantamweight titles.

The 36-year-old boxer Israel Vazquez is another Mexican boxing legend who has expressed his admirations on the Argentine boxer. He retired from the sport after his loss to rival Rafael Marquez in 2010. Vazquez is 44-5 and has successfully defended his IBF Super Bantamweight Title for six times from 2004 to 2006 before losing it to Marquez. Vazquez gave props to Maidana for being a good fighter and humble at the same time. "That's a feature you don't find that often in boxers of his calibre," Vazquez said.

Olympian and Mexican American fighter Raul Marquez has nothing but praises for Maidana too. Marquez said that Maidana has shown great muscle power and raw athleticism, which makes the Latino community proud. "Nobody thought that he was going to stand up to Mayweather like he did," Marquez said. "He can go the distance if he wants, he's aggressive."

Meanwhile, Maidana is staying firmly in his character and determined to give Mayweather a tough fight. "I'm not going to respect him," Maidana said during a meeting with the press on Aug. 26. "I'm going to go at him, and I want him to fight," Maidana added.

Maidana said he will be all over Mayweather this time around. In Maidana's first fight with Mayweather, he landed 221 punches on the American boxer based on a Compubox report. It was the most number of punches that a fighter has inflicted on Mayweather in 38 out of his 46 wins.