By Cliff Rold
The gods of boxing matchmaking were good to the long suffering fans of the sport in 2007. So far the calendar indicates 2008 will be more of the same. Already signed, fans can anticipate the entire card for Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor II; a Heavyweight unification bout between Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov; and the rubber match between Jr. Featherweights Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez. Those are fights that can appeal to the hardcore faithful and the mainstream fan alike.
One bout, still being negotiated, that would be every bit as good as the above and yet belong almost exclusively to the hardcore alone, is a showdown between World Jr. Flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (30-0, 6 KO, Ring/WBO) of Puerto Rico and his clear number one contender Ulises Solis (26-1, 20 KO, IBF).
For those who love boxing in its purest form, Calderon-Solis should be every bit the must-see event that any of the more notable events will be. Calderon, rated fifth in the Boxing Scene pound for pound ratings, and Solis are both coming off banner years.
Solis went four for four in 2007, proving that world class fighters can maintain regular activity without having to take soft touches in between. Three of his foes (Will Grigsby, Jose Antonio Aguirre, and Rodel Mayol) were former titlists or title challengers; each entered the ring with a reasonable chance for victory and gave it their all.
None heard the final bell.
Neither did his final opponent of the year, Bert Batawang. In a devastating show, Solis confronted a seventeen year pro who had finally achieved his first major title shot and shot him down to the canvas in nine.
Calderon attained similar success in 2007, if in less devastating fashion. Opponents Ronald Barrera and Juan Esquer provided rugged challenges to bookend his year, but it was the second of his three foes that defined his career. In August of 2007, Caldeon rose from the 105 lb. class that he’d dominated for most of the decade to face Ring Magazine 108 lb. champion Hugo Cazares. It was the closest the mini-mites had come to a superfight in a long time and it was textbook Calderon in the ring.
Let’s face it; with six stoppages in his entire career, odds are every Calderon opponent will hear the final bell. It’s what he conjures in his opponents that makes Calderon interesting. He makes them miss; he makes them stumble; he makes them shake with frustration. And he hits them. Repeatedly.
Such was the case in the ring with Cazares, at least until the eighth round. That was the round when the man that many refer to as the sports best pure boxer (behind Floyd Mayweather) showed the fighter that lurks beneath the skill. Cazares hurt Calderon severely in that round, dropping him to the mat. Calderon rose on shaky legs to survive the frame, and struggled in surviving the next as well, before digging in to outpunch and outfight Cazares in the tenth and regain control of the fight down the stretch.
It was the sort of performance that screams for an encore. Solis is the challenger with the resume that screams to be the other half of that encore dance card. It would be a fight of multiple intrigues.
Already 32, there is evidence that Calderon is slowing down; the 26-year old Solis appears to only be hitting his peak. Solis’s aforementioned wins are further enhanced by two previous career wins over the division’s next best titlist Edgar Sosa (30-5, 16 KO, WBC). Age wreaks havoc on legs and, if Solis can corner the elusive Boricua, he has the power to hurt him. Would Calderon have the legs to weather another critical storm? Would Solis be able to land the punches that raise the question?
These are questions that have earned the right to be asked and deserve to be answered.
It’s been more than a decade since the Hall of Fame heyday of Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez at 108 lbs. Will we one day see Calderon-Cazares as the beginning of another such run?
We won’t know until, and unless, a Calderon-Solis fight is signed.