So, this is highly unusual... This guy made his pro debut at 32 years old, taking on an opponent an inverted number of years old (23) and sporting a 20-0 (14) record, Jeovanis de los Santos "Meque" Barraza Castro. Maestre knocked out Barraza in two rounds, capturing the WBA Fedebol super welterweight title. Again, in his professional debut...against somebody nearly a decade younger and with an edge of 20 bouts' worth of experience, and not against particularly bad opposition for a Colombian (still padded, just not any worse than average for that country, in fact a little better with some recognizably-named journeymen on his ledger). If you're wondering just who the hell Maestre is - well, good. That's a natural response. If you are obsessed with the international amateur scene (and South American in particular), you probably already know about him. El Capitán is a longtime fixture of the Venezuelan national team - a 2-time Olympian (falling just short of the medal stages in both 2012 and 2016), a silver medalist in the AIBA worlds, and gold medalist in both the Pan-Am and South American Games. He also boasts a victory in the amateurs over Cuban phenom Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo. With that context, the result is maybe not that shocking. But just scrolling through BoxRec, you see a 20-0 (14) kid bumped off by a random debuting 32 year old, yeah, that's a head-scratcher alright. This content is protected It'll be interesting to see what kind of a run he can make happen, turning pro this late. He looked pretty good here, maybe a little wild & slappy on the finish - but hey, this is literally his first time in the paid game. That kind of flaw can be wrinkled out...at least it can with a younger talent with more sand in the upper chamber of the hourglass...
Apparently his Venezuelan national teammate Yoel Segundo Finol Rivas also won his own pro debut via kayo earlier on the same card. This content is protected
Maestre annihilated Diego Gabriel Cháves last night in his sophomore bout, and may enter a world title eliminator in his third (for the right to fight Alexander Besputin for the belt in his fourth).
