Iván Calderón (boxer)

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Iván Calderón

Statistics
Real name Iván Calderón Marrero
Nickname(s) Iron Boy
El Niño De Hierro
Rated at Light flyweight
Height 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m)
Reach 63 in (160 cm)
Nationality Flag of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
Birth date 27 January 1975 (1975-01-27) (age 33)
Birth place Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Stance Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights 31
Wins 31
Wins by KO 6
Losses 0
Draws 0
No contests 0
Medal record
Pan American Games
Bronze Winnipeg 1999 Lightflyweight

Iván Calderón Marrero (born January 27, 1975) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur Calderón represented Puerto Rico in international competitions and attended the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia. On May 3, 2003, he won the World Boxing Organization's minimumweight championship when he defeated Eduardo Marquez by technical decision. He defended this titled successfully fourteen times and was recognized as a "Super Champion" by the organization. On August 25, 2007, he ascended to the light flyweight division when he defeated Hugo Cázares for the WBO's light flyweight championship. Calderón successfully defended this title against Juan Esquer and Nelson Dieppa.

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[edit] Personal life

Iván Calderón was born in the municipality of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and currently resides in a sector called "Las Americas" in Bayamón.[1] Iván had a troubling childhood surrounded by violence and problems, which according to him has helped him develop more patience which has helped him in his personal life.[2] Calderón cursed middle school in José Nevárez Landrón School, located in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.[3] He is married to Wilma Laguna, the couple have two children, Wilvani and Iván junior.[4] In a interview with El Nuevo Día he noted that he engaged Laguna on August 29, 1997 following a quinceañero and the couple married on February 5, 1999.[1] According to him the couple had some disagreements when they met, based on some attitudes he presented, he also notes that he felt she was arrogant at first.[4] However on one day he decided to propose to her and after four months of establishing a relation the couple moved together.[4] Calderón expressed that he is "to much of a house man" and claims that as a result of a rule established by his wife any kind of non-familiar activity is prohibited on Sundays.[5] Iván spends the money he earns boxing in properties and he is associated to a company dedicated to satellite vehicle tracking.[6] He is employed by the City of Guaynabo's Department of Sports and Recreation and has been involved in several youth-oriented charities in his native Puerto Rico, including lecturing in island schools and co-sponsoring a massive gift-giving effort in the town of Loiza's Three Kings festival in early 2006. As a result of his charitable efforts with children that live in poor communities he was awarded a special award at the World Boxing Organization's 2007 annual convention.[7]

[edit] Amateur career

Calderón lost to Brian Viloria once during his amateur boxing career, but defeated him three times before turning professional. In addition, Calderon competed as an international amateur in several tournaments, including the following:

  • 1999 3rd place as a Light Flyweight at Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. Results were:
    • Defeated Wilfrido Valez (Colombia) points
    • Defeated Mendeo Winston (Dominican Republic) points
    • Lost to Maikro Romero (Cuba) points
  • 2000 represented Puerto Rico as a light flyweight at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Result was:
    • Lost to Masara La Paene (Indonesia) points

[edit] Professional career

After turning professional, Calderón was frequently showcased on ESPN's Friday Night Fights show. On May 3, 2003, Calderón became a world champion for the first time, defeating Eduardo Marquez by a technical decision in nine rounds at Las Vegas, as part of the de la Hoya-Campas undercard, to win the World Boxing Organization's world Strawweight title.[8] He had dropped Marquez twice before the end of the fight. Calderón retained his title by a 12 round decision in his first defense, on September 5, over Lorenzo Trejo of Mexico, at Caguas, Puerto Rico. In his second defense, held at Bayamón, he defeated former world champion Alex Sanchez by a unanimous twelve round decision. On March 20, 2004, he retained the championship with an eleventh round knockout win over former IBF world champion Edgar Cardenas, in Guaynabo. Before that fight, Calderón obtained his high school credit diploma.[9]

On July 31, 2004, as part of the Morales-Hernandez undercard in Las Vegas, he retained his title once again, with a twelve round decision win over former world champion Roberto Leyva.[10] On November 23 of that year, he made his fifth defense, defeating Nicaraguan Carlos Fajardo by a twelve round unanimous decision. As part of the Barrera-Morales III undercard. His fight with Fajardo was shown live on HBO's Pay per view. On April 30, of 2005, he retained the title with an eighth round knockout victory over Noel Tunacao, a member of the Tunacao boxing family of the Philippines.[11] On September 25, he retained his title for the seventh time, with a twelve round unanimous decision over Mexico's Gerardo Verde, at Atlantic City, New Jersey.[12]

On December 10 of that year, Calderón once again retained the title, this time with a twelve round unanimous decision over former world champion Daniel Reyes.[13] Calderón began 2006 by defending his title successfully on February 18, with a twelve round unanimous decision over Isaac Bustos in Las Vegas.[14] He would defend his title successfully twice in 2006 after his fight with Isaac Bustos. On April 29 against Miguel Tellez winning the fight by technical knock out thus gaining his sixth knock out victory.[15] He finished his boxing year on October 21 by defeating Jose Luis Varela of Venezuela by unanimous decision.[16] Following this fight the World Boxing Organization recognized him as a WBO Super Champion for reaching ten successful title defenses.[17] On his first fight of 2007 that took place on March 28 in Baranquilla, Colombia Calderón defeated Ronald Barrera by split decision.[18] Following his fight against Barrera Calderón announced that he was interested in changing weight and challenge one of the champions in the Light Flyweight division thus finishing his minimum weight run after twelve successful defenses of the division's title.[19]

[edit] Light Flyweight division

On August 25, 2007 Calderón defeated Hugo Cázares by split decision to become the World Boxing Organization's Light Flyweight Champion. Calderón entered the ring accompanied by a display of fireworks, before a crowd that included several media personalities including Oscar de la Hoya.[20] The size difference between both pugilists was evident since the moment that they stood next to each other prior to the beginning of the fight.[21] Early in the fight Calderón's tactic consisted of connecting fast consecutive combinations while avoiding Cázares' punches. With this strategy he managed to stun Cazares with uppercuts and straight punches.[22] During the fight the crowd displayed support for Calderón, at one point chanting "Olé" when his adversary's punches missed. In the third round Cazares displayed a more fluid offensive, but in the fifth he presented a strategy that consisted of only throwing power punches which seemed to benefit Calderón.[23] In the seventh round Ivan's offensive pace slowed which benefited Hugo who improved on the offensive aspect. In the eighth round Cázares connected several hard punches which led to Calderón to rely on holds to slow his offense, in this round Cázares scored a knockdown.[24] In the ninth he was in a defensive stance, and during the last rounds he continued this pattern and only connected solidly in the tenth round while Cázares missed several of the punches he threw.[25] At the conclusion of the fight the judges awarded scores of 116-111 for Cázares and 115-112 twice for Calderón.[26] With this victory Iván became the eleventh Puerto Rican boxer to win multiple world championships and unified this championship with the minimum divion's one until he vacated it following the announcement that he was going to continue in the light flyweight division.[27]

Calderón was successful on his first light flyweight title defense when he defeated Juan Esquer in a card that took place on December 1, 2007 in New Mexico.[28] During the course of the fight Esquer was more active offensively.[29] During the first four rounds of the match Calderón used his boxing skills to avoid being hit by the punches thrown by Esquer.[30] From the fifth round onwards Calderón proceeded to exchange combinations of punches with Esquer, eventually gaining control of the fight's tempo.[31] The fight lasted twelve rounds and Iván won the fight by unanimous decision with the judges awarding scores of 116-112, 118-110 and 115-113.[32] Calderón's second defense in the light flyweight division took place on April 4, 2008, where he defeated Nelson Dieppa by unanimous desicion.[33] The three judges awarded him identical scores of 120-108.[33]

[edit] Professional championships

Preceded by
Eduardo Ray Marquez		 World Boxing Organization Minimumweight Champion
3 May 2003–25 August 2007
vacates		 Succeeded by
Donnie Nietes
Preceded by
Hugo Cázares		 World Boxing Organization Light Flyweight Champion
25 August 2007–present		 Succeeded by
n/a

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Hiram Alberto Torraca (2007-08-31). Feliz y en paz (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. “"Un 29 de agosto hace diez años, luego de un quinceañero, le dije a mi suegra 'me la llevo'. Y aquí estamos juntos", dijo Calderón en una visita de El Nuevo Día a su residencia en la Urbanización Las Americas, en Bayamón” 
  2. ^ Hiram Alberto Torraca (2007-08-31). Feliz y en paz (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. “Calderón, quien nunca ha ocultado que tuvo una niñez difícil y rodeada de problemas y violencia, aceptó que esa experiencia la ha llevado a su hogar, pero para evitar que eso ocurra.” 
  3. ^ The Associated Press (2008-01-28). Honran a Iván Calderón. Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. 
  4. ^ a b c Hiram Alberto Torraca (2007-08-31). Feliz y en paz (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. “Lo que pasa es que yo no le caía bien porque como a mí me gustaba siempre estar combinao, ella pensaba que yo era un negrito guillao. Y como yo me pasaba tirándole flores pero ella ni me miraba, yo también pensaba que ella era una orgullosa. Todo cambío cuando un día le dije que no tenia babila para darme un beso y lo hizo. Ahí comenzó todo. Luego de como cuatro meses de relación nos fuimos a vivir juntos", agregó Calderón ante la mirada de su esposa, sus hijos Wilvani e Iván Jr. y su suegra Luz Mercedes Quiñones.” 
  5. ^ Hiram Alberto Torraca (2007-08-31). Feliz y en paz (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. “"Los domingos son para la familia. Ese día es para estar con mi esposa y los nenes", dijo Calderón quien labora en el gimnasio Wilfredo Gómez de Guaynabo. "Ella (su esposa) puso ese término. Los domingos cero actividades", agregó Calderón.” 
  6. ^ Hiram Alberto Torraca (2007-08-31). Feliz y en paz (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. “Calderón quien ha invertido su dinero en cinco propiedades y como socio de una compañia que se dedica al monitoreo por satélite de vehículos de motor, también tiene timpo para hacer de todo en el hogar.” 
  7. ^ Associated Press (2007-11-07). Calderón y de la Hoya reciben galardones (Spanish). Televicentro. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  8. ^ Fiona Manning (2003-05-09). Ivan Calderon: Puerto Rico's New World Champion. La Prensa San Diego. Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
  9. ^ Carlos González (2004-01-28). Iván Calderón repitió en la cima (Spanish). Zonai. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  10. ^ Luis Escobar (2004-07-31). Morales Unifies Titles Defeats Hernandez. The Boxing Times. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  11. ^ Calderón noqueó a Tuñacao en el octavo. Univision (2005-05-01). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  12. ^ John Gregg (2005-06-25). Mayweather Grinds Down Gatti In Six. The Boxing Times. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  13. ^ Iván Calderón retuvo su cetro sin problemas (Spanish). El Vocero Hispano (2005-12-16). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  14. ^ Luis Escobar (2006-02-18). Margarito Crushes Gomez In One. The Boxing Times. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  15. ^ Rey Colón. Supercampeón Iván Calderón (Spanish). El Vocero. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  16. ^ The Associated Press (2006-10-21). De principio a fin. ESPN Deportes. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  17. ^ El Campeón Tiene Su Corona (Spanish). World Bpxing Association. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
  18. ^ The Associated Press (2007-05-02). Calderón defendió con éxito cetro mínimo. Univision. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  19. ^ José Ayala Gordián (2007-12-03). “Nunca me tuvo en problemas”. Primera Hora. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  20. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  21. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  22. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  23. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  24. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  25. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  26. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  27. ^ José A. Sánchez Fournier (2007-08-26). Calderón vs Cázares: Doble Correa para el boricua (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día, 118-119. 
  28. ^ Staff (2007-12-01). Amplia desición para Iván (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, 157. “Iván 'Iron Boy' Calderón salió airoso anoche de su primera defensa de de su primera defensa de su título de las 108 libras de la OMB, al vencer por desición unánime al mexicano Juan 'Panterita' Esquer en la cartelera efectuada en Albuquerque, Nuevo México.” 
  29. ^ Staff (2007-12-01). Amplia desición para Iván (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, 157. “Esquer llevó la ofensiva toda la noche, lanzando múltiples 'barrecampos'.” 
  30. ^ Staff (2007-12-01). Amplia desición para Iván (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, 157. “Calderón, en esos asaltos, apenas contra-restaba la desorganizada ofensiva de Esquer.” 
  31. ^ Staff (2007-12-01). Amplia desición para Iván (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, 157. “Pero a partir del quinto asalto, Calderón dejó de retroceder y se detuvo a intercambiar golpes con Esquer. Con combinaciones, Calderón empezó a llegarle a Esquer en los restantes asaltos del combate para tener control de la pelea.” 
  32. ^ Staff (2007-12-01). Amplia desición para Iván (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, 157. “Las votaciones de los jueces fueron de 116-112, 118-110 y 115-113 para que Calderón mantuviera su invicto en 30 combates.” 
  33. ^ a b No hay quién lo pare (Spanish). ESPN Deportes (2008-04-06). Retrieved on 2008-04-28.

[edit] External links