Nicknamed ‘The Aztec Warrior’, Giovani Segura is a Mexican professional boxer in the Light Flyweight division. He is the current reigning champion in the category of Light Flyweight Champion for the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Organisation and
The Ring magazine.
Segura was born on April 1, 1982 in Ciudad Altamirano, Mexico. His boxing career began at the age of 15 when he began to train at a gym in California. Despite his father’s reluctance to let him box, Segura began fighting in amateur boxing leagues. He had
38 wins and 4 losses, with the majority of the wins being knockouts.
His professional boxing career began at the age of 20 on March 28, 2003 when he defeated Jesus Valdez, in 4 rounds with a unanimous decision. His second match on July 5, 2003 against Benjie Garcia was a 4-round draw with the score being 38-38. Segura has
an aggressive fighting style and strong punching power in both hands. He mostly keeps a very fast pace in the ring and pressures his opponents to exert themselves. He can effectively switch between left handed and right handed stances and constantly keeps
his opponents on their feet.
He accumulated a record of 18-0-1 which included wins against former, strawweight champion Daniel Reyes and future flyweight champion Carlos Tamara. His winning streak was broken when he challenged Cesar Canchila for the Interim WBA Light Flyweight championship.
They fought on 26 July, 2008 and Segura lost by a 12 round unanimous decision. Segura and Canchila had a rematch on 14 March, 2009 and this time Segura emerged victorious when he TKO’d Canchila in the 4th round. He scored one knockdown with a right
hook late in the 1st round and scored another knockdown with a left hand in the 2nd. Giovani was relentless in the 4th round, and the referee stopped the match at 2:59. Thus Segura became the interim Light Flyweight Champion.
He became a full WBA World Light Flyweight Champion on June 5, 2009. He defended the title three times soon after. On 25 July, 2009, he defended the title in a match against Juanito Rubillar and won in 6 rounds. His second title defence match was on 21 November,
2009 against Sonny Jaro. Giovani scored a knockdown with a left hand to the body in the 1st round and KO’d Jaro. The third title defence was on 20 February, 2010 against Walter Tello. Segura KO’d Tello in the 3rd round.
On 28 August, 2010 Segura defended his WBA Light Flyweight title against previously undefeated WBO Junior Light Flyweight Champion Ivan Calderon. It was an intense match, with Segura relentlessly pummelling Calderon while taking constant hard punches himself.
Calderon was under so much pressure that at times he seemed to be helpless to do anything except stand his ground and punch as hard as he could from his southpaw stance. Segura kept coming at him hard and fast and it was clear that every hit he scored was
hurting Calderon intensely. In the 8th round, Calderon went down and took the full count from the referee without trying to get to his feet.
His victory over Ivan Calderon has made Segura the WBO Light Flyweight Champion as well as The Ring Light Flyweight Champion, unifying the titles with his already held WBA title. There is a chance that Segura will have a rematch with Calderon in March of
2011.
Giovani Segura fought his last match on 27th November, 2010 in Tijuana Mexico against Manuel Vargas. Segura weighed in at 113 lb, his heaviest weight in five years, while Vargas weighed in one pound lighter at 112 lb. The match was a 10 round
non title fight. From the 2nd round onwards, Segura was on the offensive till the 5th round when Vargas gave went on the offensive, scoring with left hooks to the head and body. However, in the 6th round, Segura changed his
tactics and scored repeated hits, keeping Vargas defensive.
Halfway through the 7th round, the match was halted when Vargas developed a deep gash inside his left eyelid. The ringside physician allowed the fight to continue and it was motivation enough for Segura to pick up the pace. The 8th
round was 10 seconds in when the referee stopped the fight on advice from the ringside physician.
Giovani Segura has made an impressive overall match record with a total of 28 fights of which 1 was a draw and 1 was a loss. 22 were knockouts. He has successfully defended his title 4 times and may be forced to defend it once again next February in a rematch
against Ivan Calderon.
Segura now plans to move up his weight to Flyweight category. If he does so, Segura will be fighting against current WBO Flyweight Champion Julio Cesar.
Giovani Segura is a promising boxer with a constant drive that seems likely to give him success if he does get to fight against Cesar. It would be a great fight between two knockout artists right from the first round.
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