35-year-old tremendous flyweight veteran Willibaldo Garcia Perez claimed his first world title final night time by edging out Rene Calixto Bibiano for the vacant IBF belt in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Garcia (23-5-2, 13 KO), who was Fernando Martinez’s necessary challenger earlier than the latter elected to pursue a rematch with Kazuto Ioka as a substitute, battled Calixto (23-1-1, 9 KO) to a draw final December in Japan. This time round, he rode a late surge to a break up determination on scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 113-115.
It’s laborious to not be completely satisfied for Garcia, who began his profession 1-3 (1 NC). 4 of his 5 defeats got here by way of break up or majority determination, together with to Alexandro Santiago and Paul Butler. It’s uncommon to see a lower-weight fighter hit his profession apex in his mid-30s.
As for what’s subsequent, he’s not on the clock for a compulsory challenger till Andrew Moloney fights Argi Cortez in an ordered ultimate eliminator. Might be price revisiting the Martinez struggle whereas Jesse Rodriguez and Phumelela Cafu battle it out for the opposite two titles.
