Saturday Global Boxing Results: Giovani Segura Stops Ivan Calderon to Win Jr. Flyweight Championship

Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

• Giovani Segura KO-8 Ivan Calderon. And so the great unbeaten run of Puerto Rico's "Iron Boy" Ivan Calderon comes to an end at the hands of powerful Mexican brawler Giovani Segura. Segura (25-1, 21 KO) lived up to the hype as being the division's best puncher and knocked out the long-running 105- and 108-pound champ in eight. Calderon (32-1-1, 6 KO) is 35 years old and has slowed down just enough to be susceptible to punchers. At 5'0", he's small even for the smallest divisions. He had an incredible reign as the best of the very little guys, and deserves all the respect and admiration in the world. Now there's a new king at 108 pounds, and Giovani Segura is an exciting, explosive fighter. The fight was reportedly a hell of a battle, too. Congratulations to the new king, and hats off to the old champ. BLH poster Suzanne Gagne (aka BoxAnne) was kind enough to give us a recap of the fight's action:

Rounds 1-3 were all Calderon, who was slipping and landing counters while Segura pressured hard and constantly, but reached way in a lot and missed with big wide swings a lot. Round 2 was almost a showcase for Calderon, with a beautiful series of fast, fast moves and punches in the middle of the round that was just wonderful to see.

Round 4. Calderon on the ropes for something like 23 punches thrown by Segura, few of which landed, and none hard, with Calderon unhurt and countering with great shots. Calderon comes off the ropes and keeps scoring till end of round. Even round, I thought.

Round 5. Segura caught him with a brutal body shot; rains of blows, Calderon went down, it was ruled a slip but was really a knockdown. Segura's round In his corner, Calderon appeared upset about his eye(s) (not sure why, there wasn't any bleeding or much anyway), and appeared to be possibly going to quit, but came back out.

Round 6. Calderon's legs wobbly. Beatdown of Calderon on ropes continues first half of round, Calderon rallies and hurts Segura, but can't get him out. Even again. Closer to being Segura's, but Calderon finished strong.

Round 7. Calderon's legs back, Looks great this round, lands shots, but takes shots more often than 1-3. He did hurt Segura but couldn't get him out, Segura applying relentless pressure.

Round 8. Calderon back against the ropes, fights off them and starts looking good, takes a paralyzing body shot to the liver and takes a knee, stays on it for a count of ten. Face pretty swollen, cuts not too bad.

Also from Guaynabo:

• McWilliams Arroyo UD-6 Jiovanne Fuentes.
• McJoe Arroyo UD-6 Sigfredo Medina.
• Jose A. Gonzalez TKO-6 Hector Marengo.
• The Boxing Bulletin also had round-by-round coverage of the event.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Marcos Maidana UD-12 DeMarcus Corley. Scores were 117-110 (twice) and 115-112. BoxingScene.com has a ringside report that says it was much closer than that. It's an upset that Corley even lasted all 12. Corley was down in round eight, but fought back. It'll be interesting to see if this affects Maidana's rise or possible fight with Amir Khan.

Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico

• Cesar Seda UD-10 Jose "Carita" Lopez. This fight was on Friday night. Seda (19-0, 14 KO) gets an impressive win for his building resume, shutting out Lopez and knocking him down in the second round, earning a win on three scores of 100-89. Seda, a southpaw, could be poised to do big things at 115 pounds in 2011. It's the second straight loss for the gutsy "Carita" (39-9-2, 32 KO), who hadn't fought in just shy of a year. Last September, he lost a decision in a very good fight to young Marvin Sonsona, whose bubble has since burst.
  

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

• Hank Lundy UD-10 Omri Lowther. Lundy (19-1-1, 10 KO) comes back fast from his first loss, subbing in for Edner Cherry on less than a week's notice, and dominating Lowther (14-2, 10 KO) on the cards. Lundy won on scores of 100-90 (twice) and 98-92.
• Kevin Bizier RTD-3 Leonardo Rojas. Bizier wins easy as expected.

Mexicali, Mexico

• David Lopez UD-12 Saul Roman. Lopez (39-12, 23 KO) ends a 16-month inactive spell with a win over fellow veteran Roman (32-8, 27 KO), who has lost three straight. The 32-year-old Lopez is better than his record and can really fight, but he pretty much exclusively faces middle-tier opposition. Still, he's beating those guys, and hasn't lost a fight since 2005 (a 15-fight win streak). Many less deserving fighters have been given cracks at major middleweight titles in that time. Lopez is still waiting.

Cebu City, Philippines

• Rey Bautista TKO-4 Alejandro Barrera. Bautista (29-2, 22 KO) won on a cut stoppage, as the cut was ruled to be caused by a legitimate punch. Bautista may have been counted out following a TKO-1 to Daniel Ponce de Leon and a decision loss to Heriberto Ruiz, but he's still just 24.
• Milan Melindo KO-2 Jin-Man Jeon. Melindo (22-0, 7 KO) is an emerging potential flyweight contender. At 22, he's got a lot of future left.
• Jimrex Jaca KO-1 Pipino Cuevas Jr. You might remember Jaca from an HBO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in late 2006, a fight that had the wonder of open scoring. Jaca (31-6-3, 16 KO) has become a journeyman since then (and wasn't too notable before then, either).
• Florante Condes UD-8 Sofyan Effendi. Condes improves to 24-5-1 (20 KO) with the decision win over Effendi (10-9-1, 8 KO).

Kiev, Ukraine

• Wladimir Sidorenko UD-12 Mbwana Matumla. This was Sidorenko's first fight since back-to-back losses to Anselmo Moreno. Sidorenko is now 22-2-2 (7 KO).

Atlantic City, New Jersey

• Chazz Witherspoon TKO-7 Livin Castillo. Witherspoon (27-2, 19 KO) gets back in the win column by beating pro opponent Castillo (16-9, 10 KO). It's the eighth time Castillo, 34, has been stopped. Witherspoon, 28, has been in with plenty of decent foes, and lost to Cristobal Arreola and Tony Thompson. His upside is likely limited, but then if you know who Chazz Witherspoon is, you probably know that.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Monty Meza Clay TKO-3 Allen Litzau. Tyler Curtis was on press row for this one and treated us to a recap of the fight. Meza Clay (29-3, 20 KO) had lost two in a row before this one. Litzau (13-6, 7 KO) has now lost three straight and four of his last five. The 28-year-old brother of the more famous Jason Litzau is a pure club fighter at this point, but you can't accuse him of holding back when he fights. This is the fifth time in six losses he's been stopped.