Eimantas Stanionis W12 Gabriel Maestre... Lithuania's Eimantas Stanionis and Venezuela's Gabriel Maestre waged an excellent war of attrition fought primarily shoulder-to-shoulder, as the two Olympians traded heavy leather over twelve welterweight rounds at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ultimately, Stanionis, 146.6 lbs., retained his WBA regular welterweight title via unanimous decision. The key weapon for the title holder was his overhand right. Showing no ring rust despite a 25-month layoff, Stanionis landed the harder punches. Maestre, 146.8 lbs., a former WBA interim belt holder, threw flashy combinations, but they did not have the same effect as his adversary’s work output. 

 

The judges overwhelmingly favored Stanionis on tallies of 119-109, 118-110, and 117-111. Stanionis, who captured the WBA “regular” title with a win against Radzhab Butaev in April 2022, is now listed at 15-0 with 9 KOs but a more accurate record is 19-3 including pro bouts in the World Series of Boxing. Suffering his first defeat, the 37 year-old Maestre, born in Barcelona, Venezuela, now based out of Barranquilla, Colombia, left the ring with a record listed 6-1-1 with 5 KOs but more accurately 15-9-1 including the World Series of Boxing.

 

The WBA welterweight super champion (and true world champion) is presently Terence Crawford, who captured the title from Errol Spence last July. Crawford, however, plans to challenge for the WBA and WBO interim world titles at junior middleweight in August, so Stanionis may get upgraded to WBA champion status.