MANILA – Rodel “Batang Mandaue” Mayol lost a close fight in his rematch with WBO junior flyweight champion Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Calderon retained his title in his home country Puerto Rico by split technical decision.

Lee Bates of FightNews.com reported that two judges scored 68-65 for Calderon while the other one gave Mayol 68-65.

The Mayol-Calderon clash, which was held at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, was stopped after the seventh round as “once again a clash of heads prematurely ended the bout.”

Bates was referring to the fight between Mayol and Calderon last June at the Madison Square Garden, which resulted in a technical draw.

Their bout was stopped at 1:15 in the sixth round due to excessive bleeding from a cut that the Puerto Rican sustained from an accidental head butt.

“I want people to understand that Mayol is a much different fighter that Hugo Cazares,” said Calderon as quoted by Bates.

“He is very intelligent with his game plan. He made me work extremely hard to earn this victory. I have a lot of respect for him,” he added.