Eimantas Staniosis believes he has surpassed former amateur rival Gabriel Maestre ahead of Saturday's fight.
The two fought as amateurs in 2015, with Staniosis winning a close decision.
Both men thought they might meet at the Rio Olympics a year later, but the Lithuanian Staniosis and the 37-year-old Venezuelan Maestre both lost, with Staniosis flipping out in 2017 and Maestre two years later. It was decided to continue.
“I think he's a great fighter,” Staniosis, 29, admitted ahead of their fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “We competed in the amateur scene at the World Championships in Qatar in 2015.
“He's a good fighter with a lot of experience in the amateur scene, but now he's in the pro scene and it's a little different.
“He's only had six or seven fights so far.” [Maestre is 6-0-1, 5 KOs], but he progressed rapidly.He has never fought a lower level fighter on his fast track and knocked out the last promising fighter [Travon Marshall, 8-0] He fought despite being outnumbered. So you have to give him props for winning my title chance. ”
Staniosis insists that eight years is a long time and that a lot has changed since they first shared a ring. Although he speaks highly of the maestre, the Lithuanian says he has matured, grown and learned a lot from sparring with great fighters.
“My people skills have improved a lot,” he continued. “When I was a kid, by the time I was 20, I was fighting at 69kg. I was a kid boxing at that weight.
“I grew up slowly. I was not like other 20-year-olds from, say, Dagestan. In Dagestan, even at 20 years old, I have the strength of a 30-year-old man. I am not the strongest. I didn't have that, but now, as I get older, my interpersonal skills have increased and I have more experience.
“Whether it's a bad training camp, a good training camp, or a good game, you're always gaining experience and getting smarter.''
Throughout his education, Staniosis has sparred with the likes of Jose Ramirez, Erislandy Lara, Shawn Porter, and even Puerto Rican great Miguel Cotto.
“Those were good experiences,” said the WBA welterweight belt holder, who admires the likes of Mike Tyson, Marvin Hagler and Julio Cesar Chavez.
“I only trained with him for one camp. [Cotto]. We've only sparred together once, but we've had a lot of conditioning practice and he's a really good guy. He is quiet, very disciplined and trains very hard.
“He looks like me [in personality traits] In terms of energy. I don't go to the gym to say and talk crap because I go to the gym and get to work. Work, rest, and do other things.
“I like walking. I go to the gym, go home, rest, walk, go back to the gym and walk again.
“I walk 10 miles every day. Yesterday I walked 10 miles with my fiance. Luckily, she likes to walk and walks with me a lot.”
Staniaosis considers Maestre to be a “fast fighter,” but Staniaosis exchanged punches with Thomas Delorme and Luis Collazo on his way to the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia bill in Las Vegas, defeating the veteran on the way Saturday I had the opportunity to learn from.
“They helped me a lot,” Staniosis said, admitting he was more nervous fighting in the amateur ranks than in the pros. “In my last fight, I fought for the title and felt a lot of pressure. I fought a good guy who was undefeated. [Radzhab Butaev, 14-0], and everyone was afraid to fight him. I learned a lot from that fight.
“I learned how to be under bright lights and how to deal with my nerves. You can't buy those things, because you have to experience them to learn from them.
“Some fighters freeze up under bright lights, and others learn to deal with it. I was good at dealing with that kind of pressure.”