FilAm Brian Viloria defeats Mexico’s Segura, retains title

PASIG CITY — Filipino-American World Boxing Organization flyweight champion Brian Viloria punched his way to an eighth round technical knockout victory over Mexican challenger Giovani Segura to keep his 112-pound crown and earn his place in the roster of the finest pound-for-pound fighter in the world Sunday at the half-filled Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City.

Sticking to his game plan of attack-counter-attack all throughout that confused Segura, who is in the top ten of the list of best pound-for-pound fighters, Viloria, known in the international boxing world as the “Hawaiian Punch,” proved true to his moniker by implanting a big mouse above Segura’s right eyebrow right in the second round, mostly on left hooks that developed into a huge hematoma as the fight wore on. Segura was confined in the hospital after the fight but was declared safe later on.
That same left shot staggered the challenger going into the last 20 seconds of the eighth round and as the Mexican’s body looked to turn around led referee Samuel Viruet ro embrace Segura, signaling the fight was over and gifting the Ilocos Norte-born and Waipahu, Hawaii-based fighter his 30th victory, his 17th via stoppage, in his six-year pro-career.
Most importantly, Viloria, with the win, had just accomplished what he really had wanted – barging into the list of pound-for-pound best, an honor he has long been targeting but continued slipping from his hands due to a roller-coaster career.
Viloria, a former amateur standout and a member of the United States Olympic team in 2000, actually was punishing with volley of left and right combinations earlier in the period before landing the finishing kick to end what he himself described as the best fight of his career, sending Segura, ranked ninth in the world’s best pound-for-pound, to the nearby Medical City Hospital for further checkup.
“Yeah, that was my best fight in my career,” Viloria told media men during the post-fight press conference. “It was even better than Miranda (Mexico’s Julio Cesar Miranda from whom he stole the title last July).”
“It was easy, yes but only because I trained hard for this fight and I stuck to my game plan by not going into the ropes. I just met him in the center of the ring and avoided turning the fight into a brawl in which he (Segura) is at his best,” he said.
“He has heavy hands, but he didn’t hurt me. I often saw his punches, prepared to avoid them, then counter-attacked,” he said, drawing concurrence from his American manager Gary Gittelsohn.
“That was a fight between the two very best flyweights in the world and it’s a pity the U.S. missed hosting it,” Gittelsohn said, adding his ward might stick it out in the 112-pound category although plans are also afoot to invade higher divisions.
“We’ll stick it out in the flyweight division, but we might also try to test the water, say in the 115-pound class,” the manager said.
Except for two rounds – the first and second which some scored as draw — all rounds were Viloria’s convincingly.
Viloria felt bad for causing the big lump on Segura’s head that affected his facial structure.
But Viloria was also hit hard by Segura’s heavy hand in the first round in the right eye, which nearly closed it at the end of the dramatic eighth round.
The physical hurts suffered by both boxers pained them but more so with Segura who cried when he related to media his sad life wrapped up in poverty.
Segura wanted to be like the phenomenal Manny Pacquiao, who is generous in helping his poor countrymen that’s why he became a boxer.
Unfortunately, in a battle for superiority, the man who was ranked 29th in the world by Ring Magazine had to lose to 31-year Viloria—with a fractured facial skeleton to boot.
Viloria wound up with a slight cut in his left eyebrow inflicted in the second round and a swollen left cheek but was never really threatened as he repeatedly pummeled the former WBO and World Boxing Association light-flyweight kingpin with crispy lefts and rights to the elation of the crowd that included Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and former two-division champ Gerry Penalosa.
Segura may still have the energy to keep on punching, why not, he is only 29, although he may never reach the stature of Pacquiao who raised Viloria’s hand in victory after the fight.
And Brian, who has a broadcasting degree but insists on being atop the ring. He will keep on fighting as long as his legs can carry him.
Judge Danre Tapdasan saw the fight, 69-64, at the time of the stoppage, judge Ulysses Glen, 70-63, and judge Harry Davis, 68-65, all in favor of Viloria.
Milan Melindo, the WBO Intercontinental champion, was at ringside.
Are fans ready for an all-Pinoy match-up?
In the preliminary bouts, Martin Honorio of Mexico won by split decision against Fahsai Sakkreerin of Thailand, while Al Sabaupan beat Junel Gadapan by TKO in the fifth round to retain his IBF Pan Pacific lightweight crown.
Arden Diale won the vacant IBF Pan-Pacific flyweight belt by 10-round unanimous decision against Lolito Sonsona. Promising Karlo Maquinto won by TKO in the fifth round against Argie Toquero.