by James Slater, photo by Jody Kohn – Panama’s Celstino Caballero, one of the most under appreciated and underexposed top class fighters of recent years, has signed a multi-fight deal with top promoter Lou DiBella, writes ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael. Unhappy with his former promotional outfit, Warriors Boxing, the 33-year-old former super-bantamweight titlist is now hopeful of getting the big fights his talents deserve.
Having made the move up to featherweight on this past Saturday’s Andre Berto-Carlos Quintana card with an impressive points win over Daud Yordan – during which the lanky 33-year-old threw over 1200 punches – Caballero’s name has now been put next to such marquee fighters as Juan Manuel Lopez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Chris John. Hopefully DiBella is the man who can deliver these intriguing match-ups for his new signing..
“We signed a multi fight deal,” DiBella told ESPN.com of the Caballero signing. “He wants big fights. That’s what the deal is about. There is a lot of heat out there [at featherweight] and a lot of big fights with guys like [Juan Manuel] Lopez, [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, Chris John, Elio Rojas and eve the winner of the [fourth] Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight.”
Indeed, all the fights DiBella mentioned are of the mouth-watering variety. With his incredible punch rate, his speed, his awesome stamina and his overall class, Caballero would have to be given a great chance of beating any of the top fighters he may well be facing soon. A fight between the Panamanian and Cuba’s Gamboa may be the first of these big fights that is made. Even before his dominant win over Yordan, Caballero said it would hopefully be the interim WBA featherweight champion next. And what a fight that would/will be!
Caballero, 34-2(23) made his HBO debut against Yordan, and before that fight he had been noticed only by hardcore fans; many of his fights taking place in countries other than America. Winning the WBA and IBF super-bantamweight belts, in 2006 and 2008, respectively, Caballero proved his fighting ability, and now it will be all fans, casual and hardcore alike, who get to see him display this ability. Winner of his last fifteen bouts since being out-pointed by Ricardo Cordoba in 2004, Caballero holds good wins over Somsak Sithchatchawal, Daniel Ponce de Leon and Steve Molitor.
It’s by no means certain that Caballero will keep this unbeaten streak going if and when he gets in there with the likes of Gamboa, John and Lopez, but the hardworking former world champion who has more than paid his dues will get the big fights he deserves, and that’s the main thing.
There will be some good nights in the featherweight division in the months to come, and Caballero will be right in the middle of the action.