Marcos Maidana Officially Retires From Boxing

After a long absence and much speculation, one of boxing’s most beloved action fighters has called it quits.

Marcos “El Chino” Maidana officially announced his retirement from the sport of boxing. The 33-year old Argentine brawler announced the news last Tuesday.

A Lean Mean Punching Machine

Known for his all-action fighting style, Maidana won the boxing world with his bruising wars with some of the sport’s best fighters. A former two division world champion, Marcos Maidana ends his career with a 35-5 record with 31 knockouts. El Chino is the only man to have fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. twice.

Maidana lost both bouts but after Mayweather escaped with a narrow majority decision during their first bout in May of 2014, the duo fought an unprecedented rematch four months later. A punching machine, Maidana earned his crack at Mayweather with a career defining win over Adrien Broner in 2013. Maidana dropped Broner twice en route to dealing Mayweather’s protege his first ever professional boxing loss.

Making Money By Fighting Money

Maidana reportedly earned a hefty bounty for his two bouts with Mayweather and after losing his second bout with Money, El Chino quietly disappeared from the limelight. While Maidana was scare from media, he told reporters that he was taking his time away from the sport to rest and of course enjoy the spoils of a productive 2014 where he fought Mayweather twice.

The following year, he was seen in a video dancing with Broner. Maidana, looking thicker and bigger, did not look like he was in a hurry to return to boxing. That fueled speculations that he was retiring. Several photos emerged months later showing Maidana looking more like of a cruiserweight than a welterweight. Later that year though, there were reports that Maidana was seriously considering a comeback.

This was confirmed by his trainer Robert Garcia. Maidana resurfaced last month to attend the fight of his brother Fabian in San Antonio. El Chino appeared to be in a far better shape than he was in a year. But just as the speculations grew further, Maidana ended it with Tuesday’s announcement:

Letter To Boxing Friends

In a letter addressed to “boxing friends”, Maidana thanked all his family and supporters. He said that he no longer had the fire to compete in the sport that has given him everything he has now in his life. He also said he contemplated about making a comeback but with the motivation gone, the right thing to do was call it a career.

Looking back, Maidana had notable bouts against Victor Ortiz, DeMarcus Corley, Erik Morales, Amir Khan, Devon Alexander, Broner and then Mayweather. He began fighting in 2004 and retired a decade later. Maidana was a former WBA Super Lightweight and WBA Welterweight champion.