by Geoffrey Ciani: After twelve rounds of action “Iron Boy” Ivan Calderon successfully defended his WBO light flyweight title against Jesus Iribe. Calderon was awarded a unanimous decision victory with final scores reading 118-109, 118-109, and 116-11. It was, however, a bit difficult in the early going for the “Iron Boy” who found himself on the canvas in round two.
At the start of the match-up, as is often the case in fights involving Calderon, his foe appeared to tower over him. The difference in size was vast, but so too was the difference in skill. After a lackluster first round, Calderon began using his superior pedigree to outbox his taller foe. Iribe was swinging and missing wildly and just when it was starting to seem that he would be unable to catch Calderon, he nailed him coming in with a solid shot that dropped the “Iron Boy”. Calderon recovered and did not appear shaken, but he did seem surprised to have gotten caught.
Calderon appeared hesitant at the start of round three. It was obvious he did not want to repeat the same mistake that landed him on his seat. Despite the cautious approach, Calderon was already making adjustments as he began landing shots with tremendous accuracy while making Iribe miss.Calderon began picking things up in rounds four and five, and then Iribe rebounded in the sixth as he began finally landing some decent leather, highlighted by a nice straight shot to the body in the middle of the round.
From that point forward, it was all Calderon. He used his stellar footwork to dictate the distance and was able to land his shots almost at will. Despite his inferior size, the small southpaw took command of the fight by working behind an accurate job which opened up opportunities for some nice combinations. To his credit, Iribe never stopped trying but he was simply being outclassed as he began swinging and missing wildly with more and more frequency as the bout progressed. It was like a matador side-stepping a bull, and this analogy was not lost on the crowd who frequently exclaimed, “Olay!” after wild misses from Iribe.
The undersized Calderon is one of the most technically sound fighters in the sport today, as evidenced tonight by another fine victory. He may be small and he may lack power, but he makes up for this with tactical precision and outstanding defense stemming from tremendous footwork and ring generalship. With the victory, Calderon improves to 34-0-1 having now successfully defended his title in six straight.
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