We once again checked in with the main eventers of the upcoming April 9th HBO card featuring Erik Morales vs. Marcos Maidana and Michael Katsidis vs. Robert Guerrero. The card had extra firepower added to it as James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland will take on Nobuhiro Ishida and Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi will face Jose Miguel Cotto.
How are you feeling now that camp is winding down?
Morales: “I am very calm and ready. We had our last sparring session yesterday and I did close to 192 rounds total during camp.”
Maidana: “I am feeling great! It has been a great camp with changes for me with a new training camp and trainer, but I have the rest of my usual team with me, so I feel very comfortable.”
Guerrero: “I feel very motivated and excited for fight night.”
Katsidis: “It feels good because the fight is drawing near. We are enjoying what’s left of camp and, of course, the real enjoyment will come when the fight is over and I come out victorious.”
Do you feel as prepared as possible?
Morales: “I am ready and have no problems with my weight. The junior welterweight division gives me the opportunity to eat well and to make weight without sacrificing my body like I had to in the past.”
Maidana: “I am definitely prepared and hungry for this fight. I want to be a world champion again and move past the frustration I have felt since my fight with Amir Khan. I worked hard and will keep working hard until I come out with a win on April 9.”
Guerrero: “Since I was able to go away for training camp as opposed to the past when I had to stay close to home for personal reasons, I’m tremendously prepared for this fight.”
Katsidis: “I feel as prepared as I ever will be.”
Is there anything you haven’t worked on yet in camp that you have been saving for the last few days?
Morales: “The last thing to do is review everything we worked on and put it to use the day of the fight and of course use my experience in the ring.”
Maidana: “All I save is my punching power, which I will reserve exclusively for Morales on April 9.”
Guerrero: “No, nothing has changed; I’m moving full steam ahead with the game plan we have in place.”
Katsidis: “We are working on the enjoyment side of it now. We are almost done with the hard work we need to do.”
What do you think the outcome of changing your camp location has been?
Maidana: “The altitude of Mexico City was great for me, as well as my sparring partners. It was a breath of fresh air for me to change camp and I saw that I have a lot of fans in Mexico, which surprised me. However I am now in Las Vegas, where I’ve come to train for my last four or five fights, so I feel at home here. In all, both locations have been great for me.”
Guerrero: “It has given me the ability to be focused 100 percent on boxing.”
Would you change camps again?
Maidana: “Yes, why not? The routine of boxing preparations can get a little boring sometimes and you have to change things once in a while. On top of that, you learn new things when you go to new places and that’s exactly what I did.”
Guerrero: “God willing everything continues to stay the way it is at home and I’ll definitely come back out to Las Vegas for camp again.”
