Raymond Cuadrado and Louis Maietta fight much more than just fires. 

These two tough-as-nails FDNY members moonlight as pro boxers and are ready to douse their separate opponents on Long Island this Saturday with marquee matchups at the Paramount Theater in Huntington. 

“There are a lot of times when we don’t get any sleep,” undefeated 8-0 Cuadrado told The Post of working in his South Jamaica firehouse. 

“It’s all about just having the mental discipline of powering through and getting a workout in after working a 24-hour shift,” the 30-year-old, 140-pound super lightweight added. 

Cuadrado returns to the ring after a near three-year hiatus caused by numerous cancellations to face his toughest task yet: a co-main event against 13-3-2 Efstathios Antonas, aka “The Greek God.” 

“I’m fighting somebody that has more experience than me, has been more active than me in the past couple of years,” said Cuadrado, a Ridgewood, Queens, native. 

“He’s not a slouch, and so this is a big step up for me — a big challenge for me.” 

Meanwhile, The Bronx’s Italian Maietta is bringing paisan power into the ring for a “kill or be killed” super middleweight match against 3-6 brawler Eduardo Monrreal. 

“He’s a knockout artist … like me, he’s never turned down an opponent,” 168-pound Maietta said of Monrreal. 

“Calls himself the Demolisher, but Saturday night the Demolisher gets demolished,” added Maietta, who is nicknamed “Il Martello” — Italian for “The Hammer.” 

Maietta is especially confident fighting on familiar LI ground, as he’s already duked it out at the Paramount 10 times. 

“It’s my home away from home.” 

Hearts on fire 

The 32-year-old Maietta, a Morris Park native with a 6-6-2 record, dreamed of becoming a firefighter as a boy and now serves in an East Harlem engine company. 

“We’re one of the busiest houses in the city,” said Maietta. 

It’s similar for fellow engine man Cuadrado, whose company responds to calls at JFK Airport and plenty more chaos happening throughout the World’s Borough. 

“There’s fully involved houses on fire. There’s helping give birth. There’s doing CPR, bringing somebody back to life,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to do in a given tour at the firehouse.” 

And being a hero has taken its toll on their fighting lives from time to time. 

“I did get hurt once — I hurt my hip in a fire a couple of years ago, so I took some time out of the gym,” Maietta said. “But other than that, I’ve been very fortunate.” 

Part of Cuadrado’s long hiatus is that he became a probationary firefighter in 2023 and didn’t want to risk injury before becoming fully tenured. 

“There was a bit of momentum loss,” he admitted. “Saturday, I’m just looking to pick back up where I left off and show everybody that I never left.” 

Both boxers make their day jobs their top priority but are relieved to have supportive peers who make it easier to pursue their combative passions on the side. 

Cuadrado, who helps train the FDNY’s amateur team, can sneak in training at the house during lulls, and Maietta’s bosses help him get days off leading up to a fight, which fellow FDNY members always attend. 

“You win, you get made fun of. You lose, you get made fun of,” Maietta joked. “It’s a win-win for everybody.” 

Family fighters 

Boxing is generational for both of New York’s Bravest. 

Cuadrado trained under his father, Ray, as a small child and now has his dad working the corner as a cut man in a full-circle moment. 

“He was always very supportive when I told him I was going to be a pro boxer,” said Cuadrado, who dropped out of physical therapy school to pursue fighting and the FDNY. 

“He told me if you’re going to do this, do it right — and so far, so good.” 

Maietta is the grandson of iconic boxer and promoter Joe DeGuardia, who founded the Morris Park Boxing gym where Il Martello first earned his nickname while training years ago. 

The close-knit neighborhood he grew up in has also shaped Maietta’s story, with the East Bronx behind him, like his FDNY comrades in East Harlem. 

“I was running through there yesterday, and people were like, ‘Oh! There he is!’” Maietta said, likening the Morris Park moment to Rocky Balboa running through South Philadelphia’s Italian Market. 

“Only nobody was following along with me,” he laughed.