Mayol’s title bid thwarted anew by Calderon

The world title remains elusive to Filipino prospect Rodel Mayol. For the second time, Mayol fell short in his title bid against Ivan Calderon as the unbeaten Puerto Rican WBO light flyweight champion escaped with a split technical decision in their rematch Saturday in San Juan, Puerto Rico (Sunday in Manila). According to FightNews.com, a clash of heads between the Manny Pacquiao-promoted Mayol and the often-cut Calderon prematurely ended the fight in the seventh round. Only one judge gave the fight to the Freddie Roach-trained Mayol, 68-65, while the two other judges handed it to the hometown bet Calderon via identical 68-65 scores.

It was more or less a repeat of their first abbreviated showdown last June when Calderon got cut after head clashes and escaped with the crown after judges called it a split technical draw after six rounds. In their rematch, Mayol stuck to his game plan of constantly pressuring Calderon but the Puerto Rican champ was bent on effectively counter-punching. “I want people to understand that Mayol is a much different fighter than (former challenger) Hugo Cazares," Calderon, who suffered a cut on his forehead, was quoted by FightNews.com after the fight. “He is very intelligent with his game plan. He made me work extremely hard to earn this victory. I have a lot of respect for him." This was the fourth crack at the world title for Mayol, who previously lost to WBC minimumweight king Eagle Den Junlaphan via decision in 2006 and to IBF light-flyweight holder Ulises Solis via KO in 2007 before his two heartaches against Calderon. "Iron Boy" Calderon improved to 33-0-1, with 6 KOs, while Mayol dropped to 25-4-1 (19 KOs). - GMANews.TV