Eimantas Stanionis vs Gabriel Maestre Prediction: Which record will be broken?

Eimantas Stanionis will have his first WBA title defense against Gabriel Maestre on Sunday. This Welterweight division matchup will be a 12-round boxing main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. By 3 a.m., fans can undoubtedly catch up with all activities via streaming on Box REC.

Eimantas Stanionis has a perfect professional record of 14 wins, no draws, and no losses, of which nine were knockout victories. He won his first significant boxing title, the main card pro boxing title, in April 2017 against Olawale Lawal. Every one of his matches between 2018 and 2022 was to defend his title. Three top boxers faced him: Thomas Dulorme, Levan Ghvamichava, and Samuel Figueroa, all of whom he defeated by a unanimous decision. After a unanimous decision win, he went further in 2022 for the WBA World Welterweight Title against Radzhab Butaev to become the division`s unified champion. He defeated him once, in 2022, in a bid to retain his title. During the early start of his career, Stanionis won the 2016 Rio Olympics against Wei Liu but lost against Shakhram Giyasov, marking the end of his amateur career. On April 9, 2017, he challenged Rasheed Olawale for the Main Card Pro Boxing and won via knockout, marking the beginning of his pro career, and since then, he has not lost.

Gabriel Maestre has a professional boxing record of six wins and one draw, no loss. Five of these wins were via knockout, attributed to his position as a knockout specialist. He had an early, successful amateur career before transitioning to the professional level. During this feat, he won two amateur championships out of three. In 2016, he won the Rio Olympics twice against Araik Marutjian and Vincenzo Mangiacapre, with the latter being a walkover while the former was a majority decision victory. That same year, he lost to Daniyar Yeleussinov. In the Rio Olympics Tournament Quarterfinals, a unanimous decision was made. His first two professional matches were in 2019 when he challenged Jeovanis Barraza and Diego Gabriel Chaves for the WBA FEDEBOL Super Welterweight Title and won both fixtures through knockout. The following year, he won the 154 LBS Pro Boxing Title against Daniel Vega. In 2021, he won the Interim WBA World Welterweight Title via unanimous decision against Mykal Fox. His only career tie game was against Taras Shelestyuk in 2022. He fought twice in 2023, winning Devon Alexander and Travon Marshal through knockouts.

This matchup has a lot of skepticism about the pre-fight build up. Eimantas Stanionis has the most experience, given the number of fights fought, but Gabriel still holds an impressive record. Going into this match for a win, Gabriel will try to overcome Stanionis's jab or deal with Stanionis to clinch the game. Gabriel doesn't look completely prepared for this match and shouldn't rely solely on his speed and power. Gabriel needs Stanionis to be off his game to win, but I still find it hard to believe that he could rattle someone who could keep his cool against Butaev. In this battle, Eimantas Stanionis will prevail through a decision, with the total rounds of this bout going over 9.5 rounds.