Calderon defends title at Garden against Iribe
Ivan Calderon, of Puerto Rico, comes out of the corner after his cut was checked during the sixth round of a WBO mini-flyweight championship boxing match. (June 13, 2009) Credit: AP
Miguel Cotto usually is the headliner at Madison Square Garden on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day parade. But since he helped open new Yankee Stadium as a boxing venue last Saturday, his place at MSG has been taken by WBO light flyweight champion Ivan Calderon, who defends his title against Mexico's Jesus Iribe Saturday night in the Theater.
It's a big spot for the little men. In case you have trouble keeping the small weights straight, the light flyweight limit is 108 pounds. Calderon's first world title came at mini-flyweight (105 pounds), where he made 11 successful defenses before moving up. In essence, the Iribe fight will be his 18th straight title fight since his initial win at 105, and while he has appeared several times in Las Vegas, this is his first appearance on the Garden stage.
"It's really important because it's my first time being a main event here at Madison Square Garden in front of the Puerto Rican parade," Calderon said Wednesday after a light workout. "It's the opportunity for light flyweights at 108 pounds doing a big show for people who don't believe that small weights have the same ability like the big weights. It's given me more potential for people to know me and to come and see us. For me, it's business.
"I believe we always throw more punches, we move, we give action, we give a lot of blood. We do the fun that people like to see."
In fact, Calderon (33-0-1, 6 KOs) has given more blood than he would like in his past three bouts, all of which went to the judges prematurely because he was cut on the forehead by accidental head butts. He won a technical decision over Hugo Cazares, had a technical draw with Rodel Mayol and then won a technical decision over Mayol, but Calderon said he doesn't expect that problem to continue against Iribe (17-6-4, 10 KOs).
He has taken nine months off to heal since his last bout, and the only problem is that his weight ballooned to a personal record 129 pounds. "For me, that was fat," the 35-year-old Calderon said. "When I was fighting every month when I started my career, I was around 110, 111. Right now, when you're a champion, it's different because you have one or two fights a year.
"But I started training in February and started eating correctly, not eating a lot of pizza. Right now, I came out of my hotel at 109 1/2 pounds, and I was 108 after running. We've always got to leave two or three pounds to lose to have energy to train. I'm not going to have any problem making weight."
