Can “the Iron Boy” Strengthen Boxing’s Weakest Link?
Can “the Iron Boy” Strengthen Boxing’s Weakest Link?
Wacko's thoughts on Ivan Calderon.
While boxing has proven to be the ever faithful war horse of days gone by, it does appear that the old horse is starting to wear from the struggle of late. In never ending skirmish for ratings, pugilism has been on the decline a bit amongst casual fans, the networks, and most recently sports scribes worldwide.
Many attribute this to the rise of Mixed Martial Arts, while others closer to the cause blame the fluctuation on poor matches and even worse…bad officiating and breakdowns of the inner workings of the game in general.
I’ve been a spectator for many, many years…and quite honestly as a fan…I feel that the decline is merely just a sign of the times. Boxing has persevered for more decades than can be counted on one’s fingers and toes. As a whole, the sport seems to fluctuate with each decade…the late sixties and early seventies were ripe with the fruits of Muhammed Ali and the 200 plus pound division, while the mid seventies and early eighties were punctuated by the personality and skills of talents such as Ray Leonard, Hagler, and Hearns.
After a bit of a dry spell, the heavyweights were brought back to form with the explosion of “Iron” Mike Tyson and later Lennox Lewis. Soon to follow the Klitschko brothers would turn heads and set off the European heavyweight run and the expulsion of America’s chance of relieving it’s glory days of said division.
With the game’s flagship division, once again side lined, boxing began taking hits within the sporting world. As numbers began to fall…so did the network sponsorships, along with the media’s attention…& so on & so on.
Oddly enough, boxing couldn’t be any stronger amongst it’s loyalists. While the heavyweight division is still in a bit of a flux, the middleweights and welterweights seem to have taken the place of the big men in the hearts of the fans.
For years, fighters below the level of 140lbs were written off as under card filler…or fodder…depending on the fan in question. The wide wild world of sports is a much different place in this decade and the lesser acknowledged weight classes are finally being shown some love and oddly enough…loyalty.
While the heavyweight division and the nineteen nineties were championed by “Iron Mike” & the big boys…general consensus among boxing loyalists & pundits has begun to shift. Many feel that boxing’s saviours now just come in smaller packages than the previous lot.
There is currently a new “iron man”, so to speak, that is slowly but surely taking the fans by surprise and straw weight boxing by storm.
That man is Ivan Calderon…and he’s not so much an “Iron Man”, but an “the Iron Boy”, as is his moniker.
Although, the 105lb division is still under the radar (actually it’s off the radar) a bit and currently incapable of stirring up the talk around the water cooler, that the big men did…the die hard fan has at least heard of Calderon. Although, the casual fans may not have seen him…they have heard of him or atleast seen that he has taken most of the rankings by storm. The point being…it doesn’t take a crystal ball to acknowledge that the future is beginning to look rather bright for the young Guaynabo, Puerto Rican native.
Since 2003, Calderon has been the “go to man” of the straw weight division, as he has held and defended the WBO Minimumweight title thirteen times. This past August Calderon will moved up to challenge the WBO light flyweight champion Hugo Cazares at the Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez de Bayamon in Puerto Rico with much success. Although Calderon was sent to the mat in the 8th round he would go on to comfortably outbox Cazares down the stretch. For those that don’t know…Cazares is a fairly tuff champion that could very well have been the foil to Calderon’s future. Since the year 2000, Cazares had held the WBO and the NABO light flyweight straps, pulled out a sixteen fight winning streak, and had stopped thirteen of those sixteen inside the distance.
Pretty impressive for an unknown champion labeled as an under card filler. That being said, Cazares had his hands full with Calderon as he moved up to his rightful place amongst the other Light Flyweight champions.
While the undefeated “Iron Ivan” has only stopped six of his twenty eight opponents that doesn’t make him any less dangerous than the heavy handed Cazares. The thirty two year old southpaw is an accomplished boxer who throws multiple and fluid combinations, couple that with the fact that he’s one hell of a counter puncher, couple that with the fact that he’s a tricky little southpaw & you’ve got yourself a shooting star that‘s not likely to see the ground soon.
The potential has always been there, just under the surface, for Calderon. Although the young Puerto Rican’s amateur career wasn’t spotless…it was impressive to say the least. On top of winning the New York Golden Gloves Calderon’s amateur record would go down as 110-20.
Of note, Ivan lost to the highly regarded Brian Viloria, but would right the wrong by defeating him multiple times in various international amateur tournaments prior to turning pro. Many fans still have high hopes of a professional bout between the two now that Calderon is making the jump into the uncharted waters that Viloria now navigates.
Past being the past…there is a matter that disturbs me a bit…that being the jump of course. This is the factor that often plagues me regarding the players that I favor of the sport. Even though Calderon did his best to represent his country of Puerto Rico as a light flyweight at the 2000 Syndey Olympic Games…he fell short.
To Wacko’s knowledge, Calderon would fight the majority of his career as a minimum weight, oddly enough…he would move up to compete in the games as a light flyweight and then lose to Indonesian Masara La Paene. Many wrote it off as Calderon losing to the better man…but in Wacko’s opinion…I honestly felt that it was more of a factor of him being the smaller man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now…while 103lbs and 108lbs doesn’t sound like much of a discrepancy…the man in the ring would argue different.
Whether or not history will repeat itself for Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon as he moves up from minimum weight to light flyweight to take on it’s champions remains to be seen…but one thing is certain…win, lose, or draw it should bring a handful of compelling matches for boxing fans around the globe to salivate over.
Many fans have been waiting on Calderon to move up to what they feel is his rightful place as a champion of the Light Fly’s. Personally…the thoughts of seeing Calderon in the ring with Edgar Sosa, Ulises Solis, & Brian Viloria’s conqueror Omar Nino Romero are mouth watering.
As overly excited as I do get over this little firecracker…the main question on my mind in regards to Calderon is quite simple…is it too much to ask of this little man that he reignites the passion of many thrice multiplied times two removed boxing fans far and wide?
Probably so…but this is one fan that’s going to go above and beyond the weekend warrior’s call of duty to catch his matches one way or the other and if one cloaks himself in the cloth of a “true boxing fan” you‘ll be sorry if you miss this up & coming star in the making.
For those of you who are interested…Calderon will be facing Manuel Vargas in December on Top Ranks “Latin Fury” card that features Jorge Arce, Chavez jr., Mike Alvarado, Henry Bruseles, & many more. Should be a smoker.
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Originally Posted by halo
for an interesting opinion. Personally I really enjoyed the Cazares Calderon fight but then I am a hardcore boxing fan who can even gain pleasure out of watching the likes of Junior Witter and Cory Spinks.
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