Calderon vs. Cazares: No More Rematches, Please

By Boxing News - 09/02/2008 - Comments

calderon43312.jpgBy Jim Dower: Last Saturday night, World Boxing Organization light flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (32-0, 6 KOs) once again defeated knockout artist Hugo Fidel Cazares (26-5-1, 19 KOs), this time by a 7th round technical decision after Calderon, 33, received a deep cut on the center of his forehead after clashing heads with Cazares. The fight was officially stopped at 1:58 of the seventh, with blood gushing from the cut on Calderon’s forehead, making it unlikely that they could stop the flow of blood if the fight were to have been allowed to continue. The bout then went to the scorecards, with Calderon winning by the scores of 67-66, 68-65 and 68-65.

I had Calderon winning every round except for the 6th. However, afterwards Calderon, obviously not satisfied with the manner in which the fight ended, spoke of a third match between him and Cazares as if this fight was tainted somehow. That’s admirable of Calderon to do this, because most boxers wouldn’t be willing to give an opponent a second shot, especially if the fight was in anyway close. This fight wasn’t close, though, as Calderon appeared to have dominated 90% if the fight up until the time of the stoppage, and it didn’t appear to be any question in most people’s minds whom the better fighter was between Calderon and Cazares, at least not from what I saw of the fight.

A third fight, however, isn’t needed and in fact would be little more than what we’ve seen so far from the two fighters. Cazares, 30, is a fine fighter, and has extraordinary power in both hands, but let’s face it: he’s too slow and limited to catch up to the quicker Calderon. He may be able to land an occasional punch when pressing really hard like in the 6th and 7th rounds last Saturday night, but mostly he was just missing his shots and looking outclassed by Calderon.

I’d much prefer to see Calderon move on to another opponent, someone with better skills and more exciting than the limited Cazares. After the bout, Calderon mentioned that if he doesn’t end up fighting Cazares again in a neutral country, he would then move up to the flyweight division and take on one of the champions. That sounds like a marvelous idea. A fight against one of the current flyweight champions like Omar Narvaez, Nonito Donaire, Daisuke Naito, or Takefumi Sakata, would be a great idea. Donaire, obviously, would be the best fight of the bunch given his victory over Vic Darchinyan.

However, it would be a huge size disadvantage for Calderon, who would be giving up six inches in height to the 5’6″ Donaire and five inches in reach. The worst problem for Calderon, however, would be Donaires powerful left hook, which he uses against his opponents when they come inside on him. Calderon, in order to land any of his shots, will have to come inside often if he hopes to stay competitive against the bigger Donaire.

Unless Calderon was really fast and able to dodge Donaires’ hooks, this fight could end up as quickly as Darchinyan’s 5th round TKO less to Donaire in July 2007. However, the bout would be much more interesting to most boxing fans than having to suffer through a third fight between Cazares and Calderon. We don’t need any more of, thank you.



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