Ivan Calderon- one of the greatest technical fighters ever

[Suckmedry]

I dont think Calderons skills get enough appreciation. This was a man who was 5''0 and made 105 with ease. He was a physically tiny man. Even at 105 and 108 everyone was much bigger than him. But he was physically strong for his size and his skills were absolutely amazing. He had little power but that was all he lacked. One of the best counterpunchers of his era and some of the best movement and ring generalship i think I've ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWiUCmW_iHw


Watch Calderon-Cazares and see the kind of boxing on display. IMO its up there with the mayweathers and whitakers of the world in its technical brilliance. In fact imo i find his style better to watch (than floyds anyway) because he leads as often as he counters, using footwork to stick and move to perfection, And just remember this guy was 5''0. Thats like the size of a ten year old. Makes his career so much more impressive imo. I remember reading Cazares had 10lbs on him by fight night. Thats an absolute ton of weight to give away at 108. In fact watching closely i think Cazares was even heavier by more than 10lbs, maybe 15. The size disparity is crazy.

I remember i had an am fight when i was like 14 weighing only 44kg (so like barely 100lbs) with a kid who weighed like 50kg so like 112. I was so nervous about the size difference i watched calderon for hours to pick up some moves against the bigger guy.
Ended up winning and i seriously did it buy doing my best calderon impression sticking and moving like a madman

Do you guys agree that his skills were on that level?

[Suckmedry]

How do you guys think he'd match up vs that ricardo lopez? admittedly I've seen nothing of lopez so what does someone more educated on his career think?

[BKM-2010]

5 feet tall and 105lbs. Hard to get excited about that.

[Suckmedry]

5 feet tall and 105lbs. Hard to get excited about that.

A true appreciator of the art gets excited about Calderon. Do me a favour and watch that fight bro. Please.

[Humean]

I fully agree about Calderon, he was really the Willie Pep or Miguel Canto of the 21st Century. I usually like strong punchers but I always found him very entertaining, I also enjoyed watching him more than Mayweather and Whitaker. When the end came it was quite reminiscent to Pep insofar they both lost to crude fighters big at the weight who ploughed forward relentlessly and had a load of power.

Not sure about Calderon-Lopez, would need to think about it more but it would certainly have been interesting to see who won that technical battle, maybe Lopez's power might have been the deciding factor.

[Suckmedry]

I fully agree about Calderon, he was really the Willie Pep or Miguel Canto of the 21st Century. I usually like strong punchers but I always found him very entertaining, I also enjoyed watching him more than Mayweather and Whitaker. When the end came it was quite reminiscent to Pep insofar they both lost to crude fighters big at the weight who ploughed forward relentlessly and had a load of power.

Not sure about Calderon-Lopez, would need to think about it more but it would certainly have been interesting to see who won that technical battle, maybe Lopez's power might have been the deciding factor.

Very true in the comparison to Pep with how they lost.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Good little fighter but not sure how great if at all... Calderon didn't have much pop, something that Lopez had plenty of..


I would rate Lopez higher but Calderon is a very good fighter

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Good little fighter but not sure how great if at all... Calderon didn't have much pop, something that Lopez had plenty of..


I would rate Lopez higher but Calderon is a very good fighter

Lopez also fought the better competition IMO, and it's not really close

[BKM-2010]

A true appreciator of the art gets excited about Calderon. Do me a favour and watch that fight bro. Please.

As far as watching whole matches, 130lbs is just about the minimum for me untill it becomes unwatchable.

I'd watch good highlights though, I've seen some impressive Lopez videos.

[McGrain]

I would agree that Calderon is underrated technically (although i'm not sure about his being among the best ever) but Cazares? That was the first warning klaxon of his decline. He struggled in those middle rounds. Static, he was enormously vulnerable. It was absolutely clear from that point that the second his stamina abandoned him by even 1% he was lost.

Now, that isn't the hallmark of a technical colossus. Technically brilliant guys tend to be able to compensate for slippage in speed and stamina. But Calderon couldn't. He had to be a step ahead of these guys to win.

Still, these guys were much bigger than him (Cazares was supposed to have been in the region of 130lbs on fight night which is absolutely insane for a man Calderon's size).

But either way, Cazares was a close fight. Calderon's best performance was against Nelson Dieppa IMO.

it goes without saying that the Calderon style was based mainly upon excellent footwork but here he excelled even himself, all his steps were tight and deliberate, calculated with an economy that bellied the nature of the style which often calls for seemingly unnecessary movement. Calderon’s balance was never compromised and he threw punches from a technically flawless stance with real venom. This made only a passing impression on Dieppa, however, as Calderon is perhaps the most powerless fighter ever to dominate two divisions. His hardest shots make very little impact upon an opponent of even middling durability. As for a genuine tough guy like Cazares, or Giovanni Segura, who was busy preparing himself for his first tilt at a world title at light-fly even as Calderon was turning in his career best versus Dieppa, they are happy to wade through such punches in order to be allowed to fire off their own.

I loved him, but he was heavily flawed above 105lbs.