As a fan of 80's boxing, it seemed odd to me that I hadn't ever seen Callejas fight. Of course his fights weren't available on network TV in the States, so fans were left to read about him in fight recaps here and there in the magazines. I sat down to watch both fights with Loris Stecca and came away at once mightily impressed and a bit frustrated. Callejas seemed made from the mold of other Puerto Rican standouts preceding him, Gomez and Benitez; precise, hurtful combinations, fighting in explosive bursts interspersed with lots of macho posing and exaggerated footwork. He seemed to hurt the tough, game Stecca whenever he opened up, but seemed to fight only as the mood struck him, letting the Italian off the hook numerous times and taking a few hard shots along the way. When he DID open up, or when he slipped punches effortlessly along the ropes, he looked terrific. He looked like he had the makings of a long term champion. Then I looked at his career ledger on Boxrec and saw he had only the other defense against Seung Hoon Lee at 122 and then a two-year period of inactivity before coming back as a featherweight and getting stopped by Fenech, losing a ten round decision to someone else, and calling it quits for good right there. Upon reading more, the layoff was apparently due to managerial issues and perhaps weight problems, but I'm left thinking his career was a bit of a disappointment, and he could have been very special. There's just so little to go on. What are your thoughts about him?
yes, he underachieved. He probably could have been a rather long term champ if he stayed active. maybe he had weight issues. He was more talented than Zaragoza, a contemporary of his who overachieved. Then after he lost to Fenech, he pretty much faded away. I wonder if his desire/training may have been suspect, as well. It's a sad case if it was management issues. A champ in his prime sidelined for two years for management issues is a waste.
Agreed. I remember reading some about him in the magazines back then and was intrigued because they'd describe him so glowingly, but he had shockingly few title fights, and then he was gone. According to Wiki, he took a high-ranking government position after retirement, so he apparently did all right for himself.
I remember the Fenech fight well, Callejas was tough but he couldn't match the amount of work that Fenech was doing, he fought hard, threw plenty of punches but Jeff simply ended up bullying him and he got the better of Victor for most of the fight. It was a good fight to watch, Fenech broke his hands in this fight too so it showed that Fenech was pretty old school. Callejas was too but he just didn't have as much in that Fenech had.
