Guaynabo, P.R.- Ring Magazine Light flyweight champion Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderón, (32-0, 6KO’s) had an open workout for the media and the general public in preparation for his upcoming defense against WBO #4 rated Rodel “Batang Mandaue” Mayol (25-3, 19KO’s) of the Philippines. The bout is set to take place in the undercard of the Cotto/Clottey championship battle the 16th of June at the Madison Square Garden.
The Puerto Rican champion is coming off the longest layoff of his career which came about in his last bout with Hugo Cázares. An unintentional clash of heads forced the fight to be stopped in the seventh with Calderón ahead on all three scorecards. About the injury, head trainer José Sánchez said it was completely healed and should be no trouble. Not so about the lengthy absence from the ring which both Sánchez and Calderón agreed had been longer than they would have liked.
Training for the champion started with over fifteen minutes of shadow boxing and a similar dose of high intensity jump rope after that. After getting taped up and answering several questions for the media, Calderón went on to work the pads with Félix Pagán Pintor for two rounds. Work on the pads was more methodical than intense, focusing strongly on form, balance and feet movement. The champ would then hit a couple of rounds of the heavy bag the double-end bag again upping the work rate and then work several more minutes at the speed bag before doing strength and conditioning exercises to finish for the day.
For the veteran fighter, this fight has special importance because of the venue. Being in front of such a large audience as the Madison on the same night Puerto Rican idol Miguel Cotto is fighting exposes him to numerous Latin fans that otherwise wouldn’t get to see him. On the other side, his fight is not going to be televised so the pay-per-view audience will miss it.