Former world champion turned trainer, Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderón, understands that Kazuto Ioka's seniority prevailed over the youth of his pupil, Jeyvier Cintrón.

Calderon discussed the factors that led to his boxer losing his undefeated record and the opportunity to be crowned as world super flyweight champion of the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

Early in the morning on Tuesday, the Puerto Rico boxer lost a unanimous decision to Ioka in a meeting that was staged at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

Ioka, who improved his record to 25-2, 14KO's, is the first Japanese to win a world title in four different weight divisions. He also reigned at 105, 108 and 112 pounds.

Calderón acknowledged that Cintron (11-1, 5KO's) demonstrated his caliber to become world champion.

“Although we lost, he looked very good. He needed a little more malice, squeeze in the rounds and at the right times, not move so much and stop to fight in the championship rounds. But those are lessons to be learned,” Calderón said in a telephone interview with Jorge Ayala.

Australian Phil Austin and American Wes Melton scored the 116-112 match in favor of Ioka, while Panamanian Julio César Alvarado scored action 115-113 for the champion.

“The champion knew when to close the important rounds and that was what Jeyvier lacked — that little experience and even if someone told him — he could not do it. We saw how clearly Jeyvier won the first three rounds. The fourth could have been for either of them,” said Calderon.

“He is getting more mature in terms of how to better prepare for a world title fight and I think we will have a champion there. This has happened with the best. (Vasyl) Lomachenko and (Angel "Tito") Acosta. These are things that one sees and he has the instinct to become a world champion. They are talking about March (for his next fight), depending on how he recovers and if he returns to fight for a regional title. He did a good job. I think he shouldn't go down too much in the rankings, so they might give us another chance."