-Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico-
Headlining PR Best's latest card from Puerto Rico was WBO light flyweight champion
Ivan Calderon, who made a successful fifth defence of his title with a seven round
technical decision win over Filipino-American Rodel Mayol.
This was the second technical decision against Mayol in as many fights for Calderon, who last time out only managed a draw. This time a cut to Calderon's forehead from a clash of heads was the reason for the stoppage, coming at the end of the seventh round and forcing the fight to go to the cards, where the Puerto Rican won by scores of 68-65, 68-65 & 65-68.
Calderon, now 33-0-1 (6), defended his WBO minimumweight title an impressive ten times before moving up in weight, yet despite the impressive statistics, Mayol gave him all the trouble he needed for their second fight in a row.
Mayol promised to bring the fight to Calderon this time, and true to his word pressured the hometown fighter right from the opening bell. Calderon is used to pressure however, and his lack of power means he has developed a style almost impossible to crack, using fast hands, feet and head movement to flumox his opponents.
Calderon always seemed to have a slight edge in the fight, when in round seven a clash of heads caused a deep gash in his head. The cut was far too bad for the fight to continue and the referee stopped the fight. Mayol fell to 25-4-1 (19).
“I want people to understand that Mayol is a much different fighter than Hugo Cazares. He is very intelligent with his game plan. He made me work extremely hard to earn this victory. I have a lot of respect for him,” said Calderon.
Chief supporting bout saw Puerto Rico's WBO featherwight champion Roman 'Rocky' Martinez, 23-0-1 (14) make the first defence of his title against Feider Viloria of Colombia.
Viloria, now 22-5-1 (15), was no pushover and remained competitive, but Martinez was never in any trouble and pounded Viloria's body and head until, in the ninth round, Viloria crumbled. Martinez now needs to look at facing a more formidable opponent after this easy defence.
By CEI SMITH
