Segura unifies Light Flyweight titles
Written By: Armando Paz
The Coliseo Mario Quijote Morales in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico was treated to one of the best fights of this year. The Light Flyweight division is not exactly a well publicized or known division but the battle between Giovanni Segura now (25-1-1) and Ivan Calderon now (34-1-1) proved that the size of the fighter has no bearing on the size of their heart. Both fighters were elevated tonight with their perfomances and so were the lighter divisions of the sport.
In my previous article on this fight, i felt that Calderon was slowing down and it was the right time for a young champion like Segura to finally take the zero away from Calderon’s record. But early on it appeared that Calderon was winning most of the early rounds of the fight. Calderon made Segura miss often and countered with many rights to the face and body. When they got close, Calderon would skillfully clinch to avoid taking shots. Segura fought intelligently by strictly going to the body of the 35 year old fighter. He figured even if he loses the round, he can slow down Calderon for the later rounds. This is what Pacquiao did in his rematch with Morales. I thought Morales won 4 of the first 5 rounds, but pretty much lost everything else as Pacquiao slowed him down with body shots. Calderon a speedy southpaw is too elusive to be caught in the head. But as trainer Gil Clancy always preached ” Don’t go for the head when you can go for the body that doesn’t move.”
Segura really turned the fight around in Round 4. He had Calderon on the ropes and was able to landed heavy hooks to the body while Calderon’s counters started to lose sting. Many have compared Calderon’s defense to the best fighters, but his defense is much better on the outside than the inside. Calderon at 5 feet fought most of his career at strawweight and used his legs, speed, and craftiness to win fights. Segura did get hit with clean punches but by Round 5 he had control of the fight. In fact, he had scored a knockdown that was scored as a slip. It seemed that by Round 6 that Calderon would get stopped, but he fought back valiantly. Calderon seem to get his second win in Round 7 with his local crowd cheering him on. Calderon used his left more often but his power only could sting Segura but never really hurt him. Segura continue to the press the action and landed an excellent body shot down the middle that made Calderon take a knee and get counted out.
Segura is now both WBA and WBO Light Flyweight Champion with the KO victory. It is anticipated that he may fight Roman Gonzalez (25-0 21 KO’s) if Gonzalez is willing to move in weight.
