Caballero punches his way out of contention

I’ve heard of boxers talking their way into and out of fight as well as buying their way into and out of fights but a worrying trend that has becoming more prevalent in recent times is fighters fighting their way out of fights.

Sounds foolish I know but no I haven’t gone mad, recently I looked at how interim WBA junior welterweight champion Marcos Maidana’s destructive performances are preventing him from getting a fight with full champion Amir Khan. Whilst Paul Williams poses enough problems in terms of size and punch output to deter a number of top welterweight from getting into the ring with him.

Another fight who fits that category but perhaps doesn’t get the same kind of media coverage is WBA title holder Celestino Caballero. The pound for pound ranked featherweight has been posing a threat to all those around him for some time. Freakishly tall for a super bantamweight/featherweight at 5’11 with ridiculous reach, Caballero throws shots from a multitude of angles. Although he doesn’t have blow an opponent away power he isn’t feather fisted by any means and his body shots are particularly fierce. But probably the most frightening thing about Caballero is his punch output. Like Williams he throws a ridiculous amount of punches per round averaging around 100 (he threw 1248 againts Yordan).

Whilst at 122 pounds where he unified the WBA and IBF, he ceaselessly chased JuanMa Lopez for a fight including releasing this video:

but to no avail but now both have moved up to 126 it looks like he will continue the chase.

Prior to his fight with Yordan, a fight with another WBA title holder (the WBA are known for messing up their championship status) Yuriorkis Gamboa was being discussed. But as we know, Bob Arum is building up to a super fight between Gamboa and JuanMa Lopez that could earn millions and having seen the beating Caballero dished out is unlikely to let him throw a spanner in his plans.

The featherweight division is a deep one headed by Indonesia’s Chris John and if Caballero can’t get a fight with Gamboa or Lopez then he has other options but it would be a shame if the fact that he poses such a threat deters people from getting in the ring with him. There was a time when people fighters wanted to test themselves against the best and although he does carry the advantages, Caballero seems like he wants to too, its up to those around him to step up to the challenge.

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