Will Calderon challenge Segura to a rematch?
Last Saturday in Puerto Rico Ivan Calderon’s undefeated streak, which lasted the better part of a decade, came to an end with Giovanni Segura stopping him in the eighth round of their junior flyweight title bout. After the fight Calderon confirmed that a hook to his liver drained him of everything, and he took a knee for the count of ten in order to avoid more punishment. This withstanding, he said he wishes to continue next year and meet Segura again.
"It was a motivating fight and a war. I showed that everything that is spoken about my punches are not true. I hit him hard, but the boy came well prepared and he gave me a shot where I couldn't recover,” Calderon said. “Then I decided to take a knee to avoid catching another bad shot, because tomorrow is another day. Simply it was a very personal and intelligent decision.”
By most accounts the fight was very exciting, with both prancing around the ring and fighting at an incredible pace. For the first six rounds Calderon was able to make Segura miss brilliantly, but finally Segura (25-1, 21 KOs), the aggressor, was able to smother Calderon and pressure him into defeat. Calderon is 35 at this point, and still faster and smoother than most fighters in the world, he looked it at several moments in the fight. His legs were unable to handle the powerful body shots coming from Segura.
Tim Sparks of The Queensbury Rules claims that Calderon lost the fight rather than Segura won it, but it’s unclear if Calderon would have been able to run away from Segura all night, even if he was ten years younger. Sparks claims Calderon choose instead to appeal to fans by trying to slug it out with Segura, despite the fact that he only boosts six career knockouts in 34 victories, and hasn’t knocked an opponent out since 2006.
"Segura came with a hunger and desire and that makes an opponent a very dangerous one. He had the strategy to hit to the body at all times and he achieved his objective,” Calderon said. “But we are already past this and plan to return again and we expect to fight with all of the champions that may be available. I would like to unify with Segura, but first I must beat a champion. I want to face him again but on equal terms so it can be a fight with a good economic value."
Many commented on Segura’s style, which is thoroughly aggressive and stalking, and similar to that of Antonio Margarito’s. This makes sense since both men have been trained by Javier Capetillo (Margarito, formerly). Capetillo recently came under mass scrutiny when it was determined he was part of a hand wrap incident involving Margarito and “Sugar” Shane Mosley. As a result, Capetillo was banned from training fighters in the United States. However, he can still train fighters like Segura, who fight out of Mexico. When Capetillo was seen arriving with Segura in Puerto Rico for the fight, several news sources wondered if Segura ought to be aligning himself with such a controversial figure.
"I am going to rest one or two weeks and I expect to return after the end of this year with a new fight in the direction to secure the opportunity to fight for a world title. The truth is, I can't complain, I was a world champion for seven years and had 18 consecutive defenses. God blessed me with that,” Calderon said. “It was my decision to not receive so much punishment in order to avoid an uglier defeat. Right now I have to rest and to prepare myself for the next thing, another great battle.”
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