Randy Caballero: Butler hasn’t ‘Earned’ his shot at the title!
On Friday April 25th I was able to conduct an interview with Randy Caballero over the phone to ask a few questions pertaining to how he feels about the announcement that Paul Butler will be fighting Stuart Hall in June for Hall’s IBF Bantamweight title. But should the fight feature Randy Caballero vs. Stuart Hall? Many in the boxing world believe so.(1) Is that Randy is the IBF number 1 contender and ranked 11th in the world .(2) Caballero traveled to Japan on April 4th this to fight Kohei Oba in an eliminator fight with the right to face Stuart for his IBF belt.(3) That’s what Caballero was told and what many fans and writers expected. (4) He’s mandatory.)
Earlier this week it’s announced that Paul Butler (who is Ranked 46th in the world and 11th in the IBF) would be stepping in the ring with Stuart Hall to fight for Hall’s IBF bantamweight belt. So it seems that Caballero will take a back seat to Butler as this fight seems to be more about a bigger purse (being you have two boxers from the same country therefore making the draw even bigger.) and something like this only can cheat the boxing fans out of the right to possibly watching the two best fighters box it out in the ring for the title, and by looking at the world and IBF rankings that the card should say Randy Caballero vs. Stuart Hall for the title. Instead this fight between Butler and Hall seems to be for other reasons. Which seems to be everything else except for the right reasons which is the No. 1 IBF contender fighting the champion and the two best fighters throwing down in the ring.
It was also announced that IBF council will look into seeing that if Paul Butler is eligible to fight Stuart Hall for his IBF belt. So at this point nothing seems final and the IBF is possibly knowing that Caballero should and has earned the right to fight for Hall’s belt and a decision on that could come as early as this weekend.
Though after talking to Caballero on the phone he definitely didn’t seem angry, it seemed more of there being some questions as well as explanations that any man or professional boxer would like to know after all the hard training and traveling across the globe to show he’s very worthy of a title shot. He was very calm and collective throughout the whole interview.
My first question to Caballero was,
Randy how do you feel physically and mentally right now after all that’s going on?
“I feel good! I went to Japan and did my job, so my mind set is to be ready to step in the ring and get a shot at the title”
Randy you were lead to believe that after traveling to Japan to fight Oba in an eliminator fight for a shot at IBF bantamweight against Hall if you defeated Oba?
“My fight was cancelled with McDonald and was told I would have to fight in Japan (which I thought was ridiculous) but went just to fight and gave it my all knowing what’s at stake and I never turn down a fight.”
Do you think Paul Butler is the right boxer to fight Stuart Hall for his IBF belt?
“I don’t think so. You have to earn it! Butler came out of nowhere and you have to think about the guys who put in all the training and hard work to earn a shot at the title and he’s coming from another weight class so he hasn’t earned that.”
How do you feel about how this went and what’s your opinion on what can be done so it doesn’t happen again?
“There’s nothing I can do, just train, money talks and I’ll do my talking in the ring”
Randy earlier this week the IBF announced that they’re reviewing to see if Paul Butler is eligible to fight Hall for his belt as well as a lot of other boxing fans. How do you feel about that?
“It is what is, I’m mandatory they can only run for so long and eventually you’ll have to see me in the ring, so that running eventually has to stop!”
So what is next for you Randy?
“It’s a waiting game, just going to sit back, stay in shape, spend time with my family and get my training on.”
With that, Randy Caballero seems like a man that doesn’t trouble himself with the politics of boxing and just wants to focus on fighting, training and spending time with his family, but has every right to be upset. So for now Randy will continue to do his part and wait for his shot at the title and wait for these guys to get tired of running and meet him in the ring.
This story and interview was conducted by Robert Carrasco