Moments ago in Mendoza, Argentina, former super bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero appeared to get the shaft to hometown favorite Jonathan Victor Barros in a bid for the champion’s WBA featherweight title. Caballero scored knockdowns in the first and ninth rounds yet fell on the scorecards, taking one nod 115-111 and coming up short by tallies of 116-111 and 114-112 on the other two.
It was a do or die fight for Caballero, who said he would retire if he ended up losing to Barros. The 35-year old Panamanian was on the heels of an upset loss to Jason Litzau last November inside of the MGM Grand and knew that his back was to the wall tonight as he fought on foreign soil.
Caballero was in control early, landing a counter uppercut on the champion that had him tasting the canvas in the opening minutes. A solid second frame would follow for Caballero as it took Barros a few rounds to get going.
The middle rounds were often fought at close quarters as Barros did have some success in attempting to bully and rush his taller foe. The fight was typically ugly for long stretches and neither man really laid their imprint down throughout the fight.
In the ninth Caballero would register another counter that scored for a knockdown and followed it up with a big 11th round as he pot-shotted Barros from all angles. Barros appeared to win the final round through sheer aggression and the volume of his punches.
Upon hearing the scorecards a visibly dejected Caballero and his trainer Jeff Mayweather could only shake their heads in disbelief. They knew all too well the risks of coming into their opponent’s backyard yet fully believed they had a plan in place to come away with a big victory.
It appeared that Caballero pulled things out but two of the judges seemed to disagree. The Argentinean announcing crew even had Caballero ahead by three but such is the way in boxing.
We’ll be in touch with Mayweather when he gets back to Las Vegas to get his detailed account of everything that took place.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
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