Mayol Believes That He Needs To Maul Calderon in PR

by Ronnie Nathanielsz

WBO light flyweight title challenger Rodel “Kid Rapido” Mayol (25-3-1, 19 KO’s) believes he will need to maul or knock out undefeated champion Ivan Calderon (32-0-1, 6 KO’s) to win the title in their scheduled championship bout in San Juan, Puerto Rico on September 12.

Mayol told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports after another hard training session at the Wild Card gym of Freddie Roach that since the fight is being held in Calderon’s hometown his plan is to “maul him so it won’t be close and the judges won’t have a chance to decide in favor of Calderon.”

The Filipino who will be facing Calderon in a rematch believes he won their first encounter at Madison Square Garden last June 13 which ended in a 6th round technical draw after Calderon was unable to continue following a cut suffered because of an accidental clash of heads in round four.

Judge Tony Paolillo had Calderon the winner 58-56, Tom Schereck had Mayol ahead 58-56 while the third judge Steve Weisfeld s aw it a draw at 57-57. Benny Esteves Jr was the referee.

Mayol claimed that Calderon “keeps running and running and won’t stand and fight” but was confident that he has the power to hurt the champion and even take him out. 

Mayol said he is in excellent condition and has been training hard for the fight billed “Undefeated Champions” having sparred with  WBO minimum weight champion Donnie Nietes. He said he plans to spar with talented southpaw AJ “Bazooka” Banal after Banal’s scheduled fight in Hawaii on August 29.

Mayol is currently being trained by one of Roach’s assistants, a Mexican named Arevalo  but that Roach makes the decisions on strategy.

Mayol said he is likely to leave for Puerto Rico along with Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao who will visit San Juan to promote his planned November 14 “Fire Power” showdown with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.