Egidijus Kavaliauskas returns to action to take on late-sub Jose Marruffo
Egidijus Kavaliauskas may not have fought in several months, but that does not mean he is to be forgotten.
Kavaliauskas considers himself to be one of the best welterweights, in boxing and is eager to prove it in 2024.
The fighter known as ‘Mean Machine’ returns to action tonight, facing late-sub Jose Marruffo inside The Hangar at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, California. The eight-round bout will be part of a Roy Englebrecht Promotions card that will stream live on Fite.tv (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).
The 35-year-old Kavaliauskas (23-2-1, 18 knockouts), who is originally from Kaunas, Lithuania and now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Moorpark, has not fought since October 22 of last year. In that fight, Kavaliauskas scored two knockdowns en route to a decision victory over Mykal Fox. In his previous fight in August 2021, Kavaliauskas was stopped in the eighth round by Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Tonight’s is a stay-busy fight for Kavaliauskas, who was originally scheduled to face Roque Agustin Junco. That fight fell through for undisclosed reasons, and now Kavaliauskas faces Marruffo in a junior middleweight clash.
Regardless of who he faces, Kavaliauskas has trained hard to face any opponent.
“I’m focused 100 percent on any fight I take,” Kavaliauskas told The Ring on Tuesday night. “It’s been more than a year (since) I last fought so (I) hope (I) put on a good show.”
“It (2023) was a hard year. I was scheduled to fight against (a) top fighter, but that fight was postponed many times and eventually, it didn’t happen.”
Ironically, tonight marks the fourth anniversary of Kavaliauskas facing Terence Crawford, the current Ring magazine welterweight champion. Kavaliauskas more than held his own in the fight, even, to some observers, scoring a knockdown of Crawford, which was officially ruled a slip in the third round.
Crawford, who was defending his WBO world title that night, stopped Kavaliauskas in the ninth round, after having been officially knocked down three times in the fight. Kavaliauskas hopes for a second fight against Crawford, as he believes the outcome would be different this time around.
“I would love to get that rematch,” said Kavaliauskas, who is managed by Egis Klimas. “I know what mistakes I made. Right now, I have more experience and more knowledge.”
Kavaliauskas is trained by Marcos Contreras, who also trains former WBC world light heavyweight titleholder Oleksandr Gvozdyk, unbeaten welterweight prospect Joshuah Lupia of Canada, and helps out in the corner of unbeaten Marc Castro.
“Marcos and I have been together since Day One. He is my coach and my friend. I trust him a lot so the work we put in the gym is always 100 percent.”
The welterweight division is one of the most competitive in boxing. Kavaliauskas believes he is amongst the best and hopes to prove that point with a significant fight in 2024.
He hopes to make a statement at the expense of Marruffo (14-12-2, 2 KOs), who has lost four of his last six fights.
“I am definitely in the top 10. The problem is that no one else from that list wants to fight me.
“I hope 2024 will be a good year (for me) and I will get the top fights.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]
Responses