Guaynabo, P.R.- After presenting former champions in attendance Wilfredo Gómez, Alfredo Escalera, Félix Trinidad and Wilfredo Vázquez along with current champion Juan Manuel López, the stars of the main event made their way to the ring.
As expected Segura started off aggressively seeking Calderón who managed to slip and block many of the oncoming shots while landing jabs and straight right hands. Still, Segura managed to land some hard hooks to Calderon’s rib cage in both the first and second rounds even if it cost him a warning from the referee for hitting low. The third round saw Calderón slip more punches and the chants of “Ole!” started emerging from the crowd. In the fourth, Calderón went into a corner and Segura started unloading everything only to miss most if not all of his punches. All the while, the Iron Boy was landing counter left hands to his opponent’s face who finished the round visibly out of air.
Segura had his best round so far in the fifth when he took Calderón to a corner and unloaded again but the Puerto Rican wouldn’t be as successful this time and was visibly exhausted and getting hit a lot. What appeared to be a knockdown was ruled as a slip. Segura started well enough the sixth but Iván managed to land some heavy looking punches on Segura who was now getting slower and clumsier with his punches.
The seventh round was the first round to actually resemble a previous Calderón fight as the little man from Guaynabo boxed in reverse making the Mexican miss and along the way making him pay for it. In the eighth round, when it appeared that Calderón was on his way to another successful defense, he got taken to a corner where he took a knee after taking some shots and stayed on it until he got counted out by Luis H. Rivera.
Time of stoppage was 1:34 of the eighth round for Giovanni Segura who now owns both WBO and WBA belts and improves his record to 25-1 with 21 stoppages. The Mexican said he was thinking about the opportunity he had in front of his hands when he was getting tired and that was what motivated him to keep on working. Segura showed he can not only bang but can do it smartly as he was able to cut off the ring and come back and reassert himself after having a slump where he admitted he was getting manipulated by the Puerto Rican.
Calderón, who admitted he made mistakes in trading and was hurt by a body shot more than the head shots. His record now sports a first loss and falls to 34-1-1 with 6KO’s.
Calderón said he planned on resting till next year when he hopes to get another shot.
Lightweights started off the action with Rey Diaz (0-1) and Jeffrey Fontanes (1-0, 1KO) making their respective professional debuts. Referee Roberto Ramírez Jr. stopped the action at just 0:43 of the first round after Fontanes took his opponent to the corner by a series of unanswered flurries. Díaz complained expecting a standing eight count instead of the quick, and to many ring side observers, unnecessary, stoppage.
Also fighting to four rounds were junior welterweights Christopher Vélez ( 1-0-1, 1KO) and José Carlos Lozada (1-1-1, 1KO) . After a slow first round, both fighters traded shots with Vélez appearing to have the better of rounds two and three. A bruised Lozada tried to use his jab to keep his aggressive tormentor at bay but still got tagged both upstairs and downstairs. Somehow two judges saw the fight even at 38-38 while the last one saw Lozada win all four of the rounds. The decision and Lozada were both loudly booed by the crowd.
Samuel Santana and Felix St.Kitts were up next in a lightweight match set for six rounds. Santana showed a slight edge in the first round but when they both started trading in the second St. Kitts appeared to be stronger. St. Kitts, a Guaynabo city policeman, started strong in the third round but appeared to tire towards the end of the round and fought the fourth round in spurts. Round five was a tad slower for both fighters and by round six, St. Kitts (12-8-2, 7KO’s) appeared spent. The policeman landed several low blows in the final round and tried some roughhouse tactics but still couldn’t take enough away from Santana (3-4-2, 0KO’s )to win the round. Scores were 59-55 and 60-54 twice for Santana.
Up next was former Puerto Rican Olympian Alexander “El Pollo” de Jesús who was allowed to fight while he is serving a prison sentence. His opponent, who came in over seven and a half pounds heavier than De Jesús, was José Angel Román. Their bout was also set for six rounds at the junior welterweight limit. De Jesús quickly demonstrated his superiority landing clean, accurate punches and slipping and blocking anything Román threw at him. Rounds two and three saw Román try a little more but be just as unsuccessful. By round four and into the fifth, Román looked but kept on coming and De Jesús contented himself with winning the rounds but wasn’t going for the stoppage. De Jesús let his hands go a little more but still couldn’t stop his opponent from charging on. Scores were 60-54 on all three of the judge’s scorecards for El Pollo who moves to 20-1 with 13KO’s. Román drops to 11-24-5 with 5KO’s and should consider what his next move will be.
Former Puerto Rican Olympian McJoe Arroyo (5-0, 2KO’s) went up against Sigfredo Medina (3-2, 2KO’s) in a bantamweight bout set for six. Arroyo’s accurate jabs, straights and uppers had Medina swollen and reddened by the end of round two and Medina had barely landed any shots on his southpaw opponent halfway through the bout. Arroyo added some left hooks to his punch output in the third and by the fourth round was basically boxing circles around his opponent. Rounds five and six were comfortably dominated by the former amateur star who only occasionally got hit after landing multiple blows on his opponent. All three judges saw the bout 60-54 in favor of Arroyo.
Undefeated prospects Hector Marengo of Arecibo, Puerto Rico and José “La Sombra” González of Toa Baja were up next in a lightweight match set for six rounds. González appeared stronger from the very first round and in the second, bloodied and imposed his will on Marengo even if he had to catch some leather to do it. Marengo was able to dodge and counter a little bit more in the third and by the fourth round was fighting on more even terms with González. By now, both fighters had basically forgone their jabs much to the delight of the crowd.
Midway through the fifth, González dropped his opponent with a series of unanswered uppercuts and kept on pounding on him prompting the crowd to ask for a stoppage. Still referee Roberto Ramírez Jr. let it go into the sixth before finally halting the action at of 1:19 the final round. It must be noted that Marengo kept on throwing punches till the very end. González improves to 12-0 with 8KO’s while Marengo looses his O to go to 5-1-4, 3KO’s.
McWilliams Arroyo, brother of McJoe and the other half of the set of Puerto Rican amateur stars fought Jovanne Fuentes at the flyweight limit in a bout set for six rounds. The first two rounds were fairly close with Arroyo’s greater output giving him a slight edge. In the third and fourth, Arroyo made his opponent back up against the ropes for long stretches at a time but was still finding it hard to land anything clean. In the fifth Fuentes tried letting his hands go more often and found some success with some strong hooks to the body. The sixth and final round was a more even one with both fighters taking turns throwing and landing combinations. Scores were 60-54 on all three of the judge’s score cards. Arroyo ups to 4-1 with 3KO’s while Fuentes drops his first one and falls to 2-1 with 1 KO.
