Ivan Calderon defeated Hugo Cazares by technical decision Saturday night, improving his record to 32-0 and retaining his WBO light flyweight title.And while many title belts are meaningless, Calderon is also the owner of The Ring Magazine junior flyweight title, and that is very meaningful: He's the best in the world in his weight class. He's also one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world; the last time I did my Top 25 rankings I had him at No. 15, and he could soon be in the Top 10.
The fight with Cazares had a somewhat unsatisfying ending. Calderon had the home-crowd advantage in his native Puerto Rico, and he was putting on a good showing, but when Cazares opened a gash on Calderon's head with an accidental head butt in the seventh round, the fight had to be stopped. They went to the scorecards and Calderon was ahead on all three: 67-66, 68-65, 68-65.
There aren't a lot of big-name fighters in the lower weight classes, and I'm not sure that Calderon -- who's only five feet tall -- is going to be able to move up to a higher weight class. But while he might not get any high-profile fights, as long as he's fighting 108-pounders like himself, Calderon is going to be a dominant champion.
