Albuquerque boxer Maldonado Jr. is back, doing what he loves

Life was good.

Fidel Maldonado Jr. had a wife, an infant son (plus three daughters from a previous relationship) and a steady job.

Yet, at age 33, something was missing, an itch that needed scratching.

So, he’s back in the boxing ring — or will be on Saturday.

More than five years since his previous bout, Maldonado is scheduled to face Mexico’s German Ivan Meraz on Saturday in a six-round lightweight bout at the Embassy Suites.

In that last bout, Maldonado (27-5-1, 20 knockouts) lost by 10th-round TKO to then unbeaten (now once-beaten) Puerto Rican prospect Michel Rivera. Maldonado had planned to continue fighting, but then had a scheduled bout fall through.

At that point, he said during a recent interview, “I thought I was done.”

In the interim, Maldonado got married, doted on son Javier, who’ll turn 2 in August, and worked with his father, Fidel Sr. in their tire sales, installation and road-service business.

Still, there was that itch.

“I just kept saying (to his dad, also his head trainer), “Let’s get back in the gym, see how we feel.”

Then, some 2½ months ago, the Maldonados got a call from Aaron Perez, the promoter with business partner Gabriel Carlin of Saturday’s card at the Embassy Suites. Was Fidel Jr. ready for a comeback fight?

At the time, he wasn’t. Weighing 175 pounds, 40 above his fighting weight, he’d long since abandoned the vegan diet he’d followed for years. Still, he said yes.

“They said they had this fight, and we jumped on it,” he said.

There’s security, Maldonado said, in knowing that he doesn’t have to do this — and that, if Saturday’s fight doesn’t go well, he needs go no further..

“I’m gonna take it fight by fight,” he said. “We’re gonna do this fight and see what happens.

“I’m not gonna say. ‘Hey, let’s go do this or let’s go do that,’ because you never know what’s gonna happen.”

If that even remotely sounds like a half-hearted commitment, that’s not so. In a spirited sparring session last week with Albuquerque amateur and budding pro prospect Yoruba Moreu Jr., neither fighter held back. He’s sparred, as well, with Albuquerque pros Justice Jiron and Josh “Pitbull” Torres.

Maldonado Sr. said he likes what he’s been seeing.

“He looks good,” the elder Maldonado said. “It’s like riding a bike. He’s right back on it, and he looks good. I’m excited for him.”

As is appropriate for a fighter who’s been inactive since before the pandemic, Perez and Carlin are not putting Maldonado in the ring with anyone remotely the caliber of a Michel Rivera. Meraz has a mind-boggling record of 65-72-3 and has lost 13 of his last 14 fights.

Yet, Maldonado is not expecting, nor has he prepared for, an easy fight.

Meraz is a survivor, having been stopped short of the prescribed distance in only eight of his 140 professional fights. He’s smart and sneaky, with a tendency to attack just when an opponent thinks he’s only there to make it to the final bell.

“This guy has fought some tough customers,” Maldonado Sr. said.

Meraz has gone the distance with world champions Stephen Fulton and Gervonta Davis, as well as with Albuquerque’s Jason Sanchez at Route 66 Casino Hotel in March 2017.

The five years off, Maldonado Jr. said, has allowed his body to heal from the effects of a career that began in the amateur ranks at age 8.

“It was a good breather for him,” his father said, “and I think he needed it.”

Maldonado Sr. said his son’s work in their business, throwing around tractor tires and the like, have made him stronger than he was at any point in his career.

“He’s a bear,” the elder Maldonado said. “For his size, he’s one of he strongest guys I know.”

Meanwhile, for purposes of his weight cut, Maldonado Jr. has been back on that vegan diet.

So, five years after his last fight, is he nervous?

“Not at all,” he said.

Come fight night, will he be?

“Not so much nervous but, excited,” he said. “Just to go out there and perform in front of family, and everything, once again.”