By Jake Donovan

Though already slated to appear on this weekend’s “Latin Fury 10” pay-per-view card, Giovanni Segura was prepared to toil in a supporting role. His junior flyweight title defense against Sonny Boy Jaro was to serve as a chief preliminary bout to Julio Cesar Chavez’ junior middleweight clash with Jason LeHoullier.

A lot has changed between then and now.

For starters, Segura is still on the show, but has a new opponent. Juanito Rubillar has summoned to pinch hit on Thursday afternoon after countryman Sonny Boy Jaro encountered unexpected visa delays that prevented him from traveling to the US and Mexico.

Along with the who is also when he fights. Segura is no longer a supporting player but now starring in Saturday’s show, which takes place in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico (Saturday, Top Rank PPV, 9PM ET/6PM PT). That came about after Chavez Jr. was forced to withdraw over the weekend due to an aggravated rib injury suffered in sparring last week.

Serving as the makeshift headliner for Saturday’s pay-per-view card was a pleasant surprise for the diminutive Mexican slugger, but one he believes is a sign of long awaited bigger and better things to come.

“It’s a chance that came unexpectedly,” said Segura (20-1-1, 16KO) when informed of the upgrade. “We hope to have more, but I know what I have to do on Saturday in order to make that happen. This weekend will be something really special.”

It might have to be in order to atone for the mess that this card has already become.

Jaro’s unexpected withdrawal was the third notable change the show has endured in just over a week. Chavez’ aforementioned injury came on the heels of undefeated featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa, like Jaro, also forced to bow out of the show due to visa issues.

Originally tabbed to lend support to the card, Segura and undefeated lightweight Urbano Antillon are now required to do some heavy lifting. Antillon joins Segura in the co-main event slot, as he faces Miguel Acosta. A freshly invented title is at stake, but puts him in line for a crack at Juan Manuel Marquez should he win this weekend.

Segura could only wish to have such problems. What he wants to happen beyond this weekend and what actually will, are more than likely two separate matters altogether.

It’s a reality he’s learned to accept, though certainly not by choice.

He’s remained as patient as can be, this being just his third fight since October 2007. None have come anywhere close to the level of significance for which he believes he’s long overdue, and plans to do something about after Saturday night.

“It’s time for me to fight bigger fighters,” says Segura, though by bigger, he means junior flyweight unification matches, not necessarily fighters larger in size.

Although, if the right opportunities don’t come along, he sees no reason to stay put at 108.

“This is a sport for the young; I don’t want to grow old still looking for a big fight,” says Segura, who turned 27 this past April. “I can jump to 112 or 115 if I have to. I’d rather unify down here before moving up, but what’s the point in sticking around if nobody wants to fight?”

One fighter whom hasn’t publicly expressed interest but is certainly on the radar of Segura’s handlers is undefeated junior flyweight king Ivan Calderon. The Puerto Rican suffered his first blemish, a technical draw against Rodel Mayol last month in New York City.

Plans call for a Calderon-Mayol rematch sometime in the fall, although such a fight isn’t necessarily in high demand. It’s certainly not as appealing as, say a classic boxer versus puncher showdown with Segura.

Of course, a win needs to come this weekend before looking towards the future. But his appearing on this show was always meant as an audition, anyway.

“Gio’s ready to take care of business, but we’re hoping that this fight is the start for a countdown to Calderon,” says manager Ricky Mota, who also serves as Segura’s employer outside the ring. “He wants to fight the best out there and Ivan is the best out there. He’s never lost and is still the champ. We’ll fight him in Puerto Rico. Bob (Arum) knows this.”

Though the opportunity wasn’t there, the fight would’ve perhaps been even bigger a year ago, when both fighters were undefeated.

That changed for Segura almost a year to the day come Saturday’s fight, when he suffered his only pro loss to date at the hands of Cesar Canchilla, an obscure Colombian who came in as a late replacement for then-titlist and former Olympic gold medalist Brahim Asloum.

The loss couldn’t have come at a worse time, with the fight serving as the chief lead-in to his stable mate Antonio Margarito’s career-defining knockout win over Miguel Cotto last summer, one of the biggest cards of 2008.

Plenty of intangibles went into Segura suffering the setback, though it was the way he lost more than his actually suffering a loss that led boxing fans to view his career with hesitation. The Mexican scored a second round knockdown, but was severely outboxed for most of the remaining ten rounds en route to a stunningly lopsided points loss.

Simply put, it wasn’t the Gio Segura we’ve come to know and love through years of racking up quick and explosive knockouts on the Solo Boxeo circuit.

“I wasn’t even supposed to fight Canchilla that night,” Segura recalls. “I waited nine months for a fight with Asloum, only for him to pull out less than a month before. I trained for a world-class southpaw and wound up facing a durable orthodox fighter.

“With the nine-month layoff and so many quick knockouts before that, I didn’t properly pace myself. He would hit me, and my body just wouldn’t respond.”

Segura would respond in the rematch in a big way, though was once again forced to play the waiting game.

“The only reason we waited so long on the rematch was because we were forced to,” explains Mota. “Canchilla’s people did everything they could to avoid us before having no choice but to face Gio again. They knew they caught him on his worst night, and didn’t want to see him at his best.”

Canchilla eventually had no choice, granting a rematch that took place this past March on TV Azteca. More so than his familiar foe, Segura had other competition in the form of Mexican network Televisa also airing that same day Marco Antonio Barrera’s fight with Amir Khan.

Revenge came in emphatic fashion, with Segura scoring knockouts in each of the first two rounds before finishing him in the fourth. But the greater victory came days later, when Segura and his team were informed of just how many people tuned in.

“In Mexico, he does very good ratings, which was proven in the Canchilla rematch,” insists Mota. “Khan-Barrera was on Televisa on the same night and we did better ratings. We will benefit again this weekend. I’m realistic – we’re not pay-per-view headlining material yet. But this show will be free on Mexico Azteca, which means another chance for Gio’s countryman to support him.”

The bout will be his second straight headliner in Mexico, though Segura hopes to expand his audience once this weekend is over.

“It’s a big responsibility,” he says of headlining his first pay-per-view card and replacing a name as big in Mexico as that of Chavez Jr. “It’s a chance for me to prove that I’m a solid champion, and a chance to let the people know my future plans.”

Though of course not before taking care of what awaits him in the present.

“There’s a time to celebrate, and there’s a time to look around. Right now, this is the time to focus on my opponent.”

Segura hasn’t had much time to readjust his sights, with Rubillar being named the replacement on Thursday afternoon. On paper, there are several similarities between this opponent and previously scheduled Jaro. Both are 5’2”, hail from the Philippines and previously came up short in back-to-back title challenges against Edgar Sosa.

One glaring difference between the two is the side of the plate from which they hit; Jaro is orthodox while Rubillar is a lefty.

If the trend sounds familiar, it’s because the inverse occurred this time last year, when southpaw Asloum was replaced with right-handed Canchilla.

But from where Canchilla’s punches came wasn’t Segura’s greatest issue during their first fight, nor did a training overhaul take place prior to the rematch.

“The only difference between the first fight and the rematch was my conditioning. I’m fit and ready for this fight. It’s only been four months since my last fight, as opposed to the eight-month layoff last time, which followed a nine-month period out of the ring. I’ll never let anything or anyone stand in my way like that ever again.”

Given his failure to secure a much-coveted blockbuster fight, you can argue that it’s tough for anyone to stand in his way if nobody is there to begin with. But that will have to change sooner rather than later if he is to continue fighting.

“My biggest opponent is time. I want to take advantage now, while I’m still young. I want to fight the best, in order to be the best and my door is wide open right now.”

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

It’s difficult to expect much from the undercard, when the original supporting bouts have now become the evening’s main attractions. But even with Segura-Rubillar and Antillon-Acosta receiving upgrades, the rest of Latin Fury 10 doesn’t look all that bad, relatively speaking.

Now serving as a televised support will be a super flyweight match between Juan Alberto Rojas and Alejandro Martinez, as well as undefeated flyweight Hernan Marquez stepping up in competition against former world title challenger Juan Esquer.

Fans figure to get their money’s worth from Segura and Antillon alone, though it’s also fair to debate whether their appearances without a notable attraction warrants the $39.95 price tag that still accompanies the show for the stateside feed.

For the low, low price of free, fans will find plenty of value one night earlier on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights. The show, which airs live from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, is topped by a featherweight crossroads bout between rising contender Antonio Escalante and divisional spoiler Cornelius Lock.

Escalante (20-2, 13KO) enters this weekend having won six straight since suffering a shocking 8th round knockout loss to Mauricio Pastrana 2 ½ years ago.

Some of the competition has been made to order, though three straight 3rd round knockouts against the trio of David Martinez, Mike Oliver and Gary Stark Jr. are more than enough to suggest that he’s all the way back to original form.

However, it’s not a given that he survives this weekend. In fact, it’s fair to question Golden Boy Promotions’ willingness to match their pup against the resurgent Lock (18-3-1, 11KO).

Once a mere steppingstone for more prominent featherweights, Lock has truly turned around his career since returning to the ring in 2007. A big part of that is due to his rededicating himself to the sport and his reunion with head trainer Roger Mayweather.

Lock heads into the fight riding a three-fight win streak, including two huge upset stoppage wins, both of which came in 2008 and on American airwaves.

The Detroit native was brought in as perceived cannon fodder for the highly touted Juanito Garcia, but flipped the script and violently snatched his 0 in the main event of a Solo Boxeo telecast last March.

Three months later, it was Roger Gonzalez’ turn, though the Californian enjoyed much greater success, at least for nine rounds. The fight was very much on the table for both fighters heading into the 10th and final round, until Lock dug deep to twice floor Gonzalez, the second bringing about an immediate stoppage.

Though rapidly emerging as one the sport’s biggest spoilers, what Lock doesn’t have on his side is ring activity. The aforementioned win over Gonzalez was his last fight to date, having sat out for 13 months by the time the opening bell rings on Friday night.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .