by Tim Harrison
Former lineal junior flyweight champion Giovani Segura (30-3-1, 26 KOs) and former flyweight titlist Hernan “Tyson” Marquez (36-3, 26 KOs) clash in a 12-round non-title bout, set to take place at el Centro de Usos Multiples in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. This fight will be televised in the United States on Univision’s “Solo Boxeo” series.
Due to the small stature of Marquez and Segura and any real general American interest in any division south of 140 pounds, this fight is overshadowed by HBO’s presentation of new darling Gennady Golovkin’s WBA middleweight title defense against Curtis Stevens. Both men are coming into Saturday night’s showdown on somewhat of the comeback. Marquez is two fights removed from a TKO loss to Brian Viloria last November. Segura is also coming off a recent loss to Viloria, and has won two of three since the December 2011 loss. The loss after Viloria came at the capable hands of Edgar Sosa.
As a junior flyweight, Segura was a wrecking ball demolishing anything in his path. Crude, unrelenting, and highly effective, Segura was not a fighter known for his technical acumen. He was out boxed by Cesar Canchila in his first title bid back in 2008. In their immediate rematch he was able to get to Canchila early on, dropping him twice before stopping him in the fourth. After a three-year title reign and two wins over long-time strawweight kingpin Ivan Calderon, Segura moved up to flyweight. It was there that Segura’s punches lost some of their weight, and he was stopped by Viloria in his second fight in the division. Segura returned after a year away and stopped a game, but overmatched Omar Salado in March. He followed that up with the loss to Edgar Sosa – yet another in which he was mostly hopelessly out boxed. Segura returned again in August and stopped previously undefeated Puerto Rican prospect Jonathan Gonzalez, setting up Saturday’s fight.
Marquez really came into his own after appearing for the first time on the big stage against Nonito Donaire. Outmatched and undersized, Marquez tasted the canvas twice before the fight was stopped in the eighth round. The loss to Donaire was the second straight for Marquez (the first came to Richie Mepranum), and after a return to the flyweight division and couple fights against club-level opponents, Marquez was in line to fight for the WBA’s version of the flyweight title against Luis Concepcion. Marquez and Concepcion waged a back-and-forth battle, with both men going down in the first, before Marquez’s power proved to be too much for Concepcion. Marquez would deposit Concepcion on the canvas twice more and win the fight and the title by way of TKO in eleven grueling rounds. In their rematch six months later, Marquez made quick work of Concepcion, stopping him in the first round. Marquez made two more defenses (one a win over Richie Mepranum) before coming up short against Viloria last November. Since the loss to Viloria, Marquez stopped journeyman Edgar Jimenez and took a decision win over former titlist Carlos Tamara.
This fight will be won by the man who can land the most meaningful shots first and most often. While Marquez has the edge in technical prowess, he’s easily lured into needless firefights. This plays right into the style of Giovani Segura, who is most known for breaking his opponent’s will from inside close range. Both men have racked up a lot of mileage on their tiny 112-pound frames, but Marquez has spent less time getting down and dirty in the trenches than his counterpart. Coupled with his straighter, shorter punches that figure to detonate on their targets before Segura’s, Marquez should emerge the victor on Saturday night, well within twelve rounds.
You can email Tim at timharrison65@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TheTimHarrison.
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