Saturday Night Results: Calderon defeats Iribe, Miranda knocks out Mepranum

• Ivan Calderon retained his light flyweight championship by scoring a unanimous decision over Jesus Iribe by final scores of 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111.  This was the best Calderon has looked in quite a while, but it was probably also his worst opponent since moving up from minimumweight.  For the most part, it was the old Calderon - hit but don't get hit.  Iribe came forward all night and threw far more punches, but Calderon was flashy in his defensive execution and came back with some quick counter combinations, making it pretty easy to give the rounds to Calderon.  On two of the scorecards, the judges only gave Iribe the second round, where Iribe officially scored a knockdown on Calderon in what appeared to be somewhat of a trip.  Next up, Calderon will need to face his mandatory Johnriel Casimero, the 20-year old Pinoy prodigy who routed Cesar Canchila not long ago.
• In the fight of the night, Takashi Okada won a decision over Puerto Rican Olympian McWilliams Arroyo in a four round slugfest.  The difference was a second round flash knockdown scored by Okada.  At such an early stage in their careers, it's hard to tell if this is merely a speedbump for Arroyo.  Okada looked to be a pretty decent fighter and has been serving as Rodel Mayol's sparring partner, and this may turn out to be as much a coming out for him as it was a learning experience for Arroyo.
  
• Glen Tapia, Will Rosinsky and Gabriel Bracero all scored wins over stepping stone opponents to remain undefeated.

Puebla, Mexico

• Julio Cesar Miranda scored a fifth round technical knockout over Richie Mepranum to capture a vacant flyweight title.  While Mepranum reportedly outboxed Miranda early, Miranda was able to pound the body, visibly hurting Mepranum at several points before knocking him down in the fifth, causing the referee to stop the one-sided fight.  This was Pingo's third attempt at winning a title.
  

Durango, Mexico

• Marco Antonio Rubio captured a minor trinket with a boring decision victory over never-was Samuel Miller.  Once upon a time, Miller was thought of as a hot prospect, but that bubble was burst before he ever really got to fighting legitimate opponents.  Rubio reportedly was fairly unimpressive in grinding out a workmanlike decision by scores of 116-112, 117-110 and 117-110.  If the WBC ends up stripping Sergio Martinez of his middleweight title, don't be too surprised if they end up giving that title to Rubio.  
• Marcos Reyes scored an 11th round liver shot knockout over Jose Luis Zertuche to also win a minor middleweight trinket.  Depending on Jose Suliaman's mood, Rubio and Reyes should be required to fight each other next.  Reyes moves up to 15-1 and has some pretty solid wins at only 22 years old.  This is probably near the end of the line for the 37-year old Zertuche, who hasn't had a significant win since beating Carlos Bojorquez back in 2006.

Marrakech, Morocco

• Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam won a minor middleweight trinket by knocking out Omar Weis in the eighth round.  N'Jikam fought in a controlled manner before eventually taking out Weis with a diaphragm shot.  Depending on how things shake out with Gennady Golovkin and others, N'Jikam may be getting a title shot in the very near future.
  

Hollywood, California

• Lance Whitaker overcame a fifth round knockdown to survive and eke out a split decision over Andrei Fedosov.  The scores were 115-112, 114-113 and 112-115 in a close bout.  This was Fedosov's first loss since relocating to the U.S.
  
• Damien Wills won a wide decision over Lionel Butler to move to 28-2-1.  It's probably close to make or break time for Wills, once considered a decent prospect but who didn't come close to beating Cris Arreola or Kevin Johnson.