Ivan Calderon vs Jesus Uribe Fight Card Preview
The “Iron Boy” is ready to take center stage again, as WBO junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (33-0-1, 6 KOs) returns to action on June 12 to take on Jesus Uribe (16-6-5, 10 KOs) at Madison Square Garden. For Calderon, the bout will mark the seventh defense of the title that he won in August 2007 in a split decision over Hugo Fidel Cazares. For the unheralded Uribe, the bout is a chance of a lifetime.
This fight was supposed to have a very different tenor – reports in March suggested that Caledron’s opponent in May would be WBO interim junior flyweight champion Johnriel Casimero in a title unification bout. The fight was even tentatively announced, only to see the two sides back away and agree that each fighter should have one more bout before they squared off against each other later in the year. After several opponents for Calderon were bandied about and then backed out, the title shot fell to Uribe.
Calderon is one of the top-ranked junior flyweights in the world and a contender to make lists of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Clearly, he has bigger fights to worry about – such as the unification fight against Casimero later this year – and his managers wanted to select an opponent who would offer as little resistance as possible. While Uribe is no tomato can, the fact remains that he poses little threat to Calderon’s future plans within the division.
The only thing that Uribe possesses in the power of mystery – very few people in the United States or outside of Mexico had heard of him before he was given the title shot. However, he has had two title shots in the past, dropping a clear unanimous decision to IBF junior flyweight champion Brian Viloria this past August and a similarly lopsided decision to Edgar Sosa for the WBC junior flyweight title in February 2008. Most of Uribe’s wins have come against opponents with less than stellar backgrounds – his most recent victory in December 2009 against Valentin Leon, who came into the bout sporting a 19-20-3 record, is a prime example.
While Uribe is taking a significant step up in quality from many of his past opponents, Caledron is looking for a relatively easy fight and a break from the onslaught of tough competition he has fought in recent bouts. Most recently, he earned a technical decision in September 2009 over Rodal Mayol, avenging the only blemish on his otherwise spotless record when Mayol fought him to a technical draw three months earlier.
Both fights against Mayol were stopped because of deep cuts suffered by Calderon because of unintentional head butts. In fact, it was Calderon’s third consecutive fight to end early due to cuts – a big gash on his forehead caused his rematch with Cazares in August 2008 to be halted after seven rounds. If the supremely fast and technically sound Puerto Rican has a weakness, it’s his propensity to get cut. Uribe is a savvy, veteran fighter, and he knows that his best chance in the fight is to target the areas where Calderon has been cut in the past and hope that he can reopen some old wounds.
The fight between Calderon and Uribe headlines a relatively weak card, especially for a show at Madison Square Garden. One of the featured bouts involves former amateur standout Will Rosinsky, who will be putting his undefeated record of 11-0 with six KOs on the line against Victor Villereal (8-5-2, 4 KOs), who has lost three of his last four bouts. Another undefeated prospect on display during the undercard is Gabriel Bracero (9-0, 0 KOs, who takes on Julias Edmonds (7-6, 0 KOs) in a fight that figures to be light on offensive firepower.
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