Ivan Calderon, the WBO junior flyweight champion, never thought Batman would be an opponent. But the Caped Crusader is the only man to score a convincing KO of Calderon, whose nickname is “Iron Boy.”
Calderon will meet Filipino challenger Rodel Mayol in the co-feature of the Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey welterweight championship match at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night.
Calderon, who was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in the Bronx, was looking forward to his fight being on HBO. But the cable network will premiere “The Dark Knight” as a lead-in to its “Championship Boxing” show. Cotto-Clottey is the only match the network will broadcast, beginning at 10:30 p.m.
The 108-pound Calderon realizes he is no match for Batman.
“I know a lot of people don’t like watching the little guys fight because they don’t think they have any knockout power,” Calderon said. “But there’s more to boxing than knocking people out. I’m not a runner. I know how to box. I’m a boxer, and there are people that appreciate boxing.”
Brian Adams, the Daily News director of Community Affairs who also runs the Golden Gloves, fought in the amateurs in New York with Calderon and admires his boxing skills.
“He’s never going to get his proper due. He’s too little,” Adams said. “Just like with Lennox Lewis, he’s not going to be appreciated until he’s left the sport.”
Bob Arum, Calderon’s promoter at Top Rank, calls Calderon “the best pure boxer in the sport.”
Calderon, who was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and moved to the Bronx with his family when he was 4, fought at the smaller venue at the Garden when he was in the Daily News Golden Gloves in 1995. He hasn’t fought in New York since the third fight of his career in 2001.
Calderon’s defensive boxing skills have been compared to those of Pernell Whitaker and Willie Pep. Those skills, his undefeated record (32-0, 6 KOs) and 15 successful title defenses have landed him on the pound-for-pound best boxer list.
Kery Davis, HBO’s senior VP of programming, said said his network doesn’t have a bias against little guys. He said that Calderon will get his opportunity to fight on HBO in the future. But Davis had one caveat as he was talking to Calderon during Wednesday’s press conference at the Garden.
“Look spectacular in this fight and you’ll get your shot,” Davis said. By spectacular, Davis means a knockout.
“It’s like a baseball player trying to hit a home run every time,” Calderon said. “I know I can throw punches with power. But to do that you have to stand there and plant. I don’t want to stand there and get hit. I’d rather box.”
Calderon, 34, was not a fan of boxing growing up, but got into fights at school.
“My mom said if you’re going to fight we might as well try to make some money with those fists,” he said.
He joined the Jerome Boxing Club in the Bronx to try to make the 1996 U.S. Olympic team with Zab Judah and Adams. He didn’t make that year’s U.S. squad but made the Puerto Rican Olympic team in 2000.
“Back in the ’70s and ’80s boxing was marketed as the sweet science,” Adams said. “Every real boxer was a household name in the ’70s and ’80s, guys like (Wilfred) Benitez and Ray Leonard. As time evolved, everybody involved in boxing got lazy and they stopped trying to sell and educate the viewers on the artistry of the sport. It’s easy to sell, ‘Come see (Mike) Tyson, he’s going to knock guys out’ than it is to sell, ‘Come see Ivan Calderon, who is going to stand in front of guys and not get hit.'”
One consolation for Calderon is that his fight will be broadcast in Puerto Rico, England and the Philippines.
