Van Heerden wins at the Garden
Chris van Heerden beat Cecil McCalla on a split decision in their welterweight fight in New York on Friday night.
The 27-year-old South African won 97-93 and on 96-94 on two cards but the third judge called it a rather ridiculous 99-91 to McCalla.
Van Heerden boxed well throughout the fight, showing the benefits of being trained by Hall of Fame coach Freddie Roach.
He won the vacant IBF international title after McCalla, 29, had come in more than 1kg over the limit for the ten-round bout at the Garden Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
The victory enabled Van Heerden, who was fighting in the United States for the third time, to improve his record to 22-1, with one draw and 11 knockouts. McCalla’s fell to 29-1, with seven wins inside the distance.
SAPA reports that Van Heerden said: "I'm a far better boxer now than when I left South Africa 18 months ago.
"It might have been a gamble, but sparring with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Saul Alvarez and other top fighters, and being trained by Roach has improved my ability immeasurably. I believe I can continue to get better and better.
“Fighting at Madison Square Garden was a dream come true for me. I'm hoping to get a fight now against one of the top ten in the welterweight division and go on for a title shot."
The last South African to fight at Madison Square Garden was Willie Toweel, whom Emile Griffith stopped in the eighth round when they met in October 1960; Toweel’s last fight. Toweel had beaten Lenny Matthews at the same venue the previous year.
Van Heerden is a former SA, African Boxing Union and IBO welterweight champion.
On the same card, Tureano Johnson won the vacant WBC silver and WBA international middleweight titles when Alex Theran failed to come out for the sixth round because of an ankle injury. Johnson improved his record to 17-1, with 12 shortcut wins. Theran dropped to 17-2; 9.
PEREZ DEFEATS MAICELO
In an entertaining lightweight bout in Santa Ynez in California, Darleys Perez from Colombia defeated Jonathon Maicelo of Peru over twelve rounds: 118-109, 118-108 and 120-107.
The victory enabled Perez to retain the WBA interim title.
The 31-year-old Perez, showed why he is No 1 on the WBA’s rankings list and improved his record to 32-1, including 20 victories inside the distance. Maicelo, who was ranked sixth, dropped to 21-2, with 12 shortcut wins.
Perez, who had lost only to Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2013, landed clean punches at will in the second half of the fight, knocking Maicelo down in the penultimate round.
Maicelo showed courage but now enough skill on defence as Perez dominated the bout in an excellent performance that was broadcast live on SuperSport.
MENDOZA DEFENDS IBF BELT
Mexico’s Javier Mendoza makes the first defence of his IBF light-flyweight belt when he fights Colombia’s Mauricio Fuentes in Tijuana, Mexico, on Saturday night.
Mendoza won the vacant title on September 20 last year when he outpointed Ramon Garcia Hirales.
The 23-year-old southpaw has a record 22-2, with one draw and eight knockouts. His defeats were in fights against Manuel Jiminez and Jorge Guerrero.
Fuentes, 25, has a record of 17-3, with 11 wins inside the distance. In May last year he was knocked out in the first round when he challenged John Riel Casimero for the IBF light-flyweight belt. He bounced back in July to beat Nester Arroyo.
