CAN MAYOL FINALLY CATCH CALDERON?
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 09 Sep 2009
More than four months after Gerry Penalosa came up short in his bid for a third world title against Juan Manuel Lopez, Marvin Sonsona beat Jose “Carita” Lopez and placed the Philippines in the win column in our head to head match-up with Puerto Rico in WBO world title bouts.
The score is now 1 win – 1 loss and 1 draw. This one split technical draw has developed into an intriguing grudge rematch. Rodel Mayol of Mandaue City will try again to beat Ivan Calderon and win the WBO world light flyweight title.
Their June 13 Madison Square Garden bout ended in a 6 round technical draw due to cuts on Calderon’s forehead due to head butts. Mayol’s height and reach advantage gave Calderon a lot of difficulty. The Puerto Rican has been quoted as saying that he fought the wrong fight because he wanted to impress the fans. Now, he feels Mayol can’t hit him.
The 34 year old Calderon (32 W-0 L -1 D, 6 KO's) is a two division champion and arguably the best pure boxer in the fight game today. He proved to be really slippery in their first fight and Mayol missed a lot of power shots.
Mayol has lost to Eagle Den Junlaphan (L UD 12, 2006) and Ulises Solis (L TKO 8, 2007) in previous world title attempts. His task will be a more daunting one. He will now be fighting in the champion’s home turf. He will be entering this fight with both aggressiveness and desperation. Mayol (25 W-3 L-1 D with19 KO's) is now 28 years old and this is his fourth attempt to win a world crown. Time is obviously not on his side.
He will have to be both more aggressive but more accurate. This is easier said than done against a wily champion like Calderon. But there is no other way. For Rodel Mayol, it’s now or never.
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