By Jake Donovan
The two main shows appearing on stateside television this weekend couldn’t have less in common. They air on separate nights and networks from two different countries and feature two fighters who fight nothing alike and are at different stages of their respective careers.
Yet for all of their differences, a single word can sum up this weekend’s appearances for Shawn Porter and Giovanni Segura: homecoming.
For Shawn Porter (12-0, 10KO), home means heading back to Ohio. The undefeated junior middleweight prospect takes the lead role in this week’s edition of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights (Friday, 9PM ET/6PM PT) when he faces Russell Jordan in the main event at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, approximately 45 minutes from his Akron hometown.
Porter’s name repeatedly made headlines last year, mainly for his time served as a lead sparring partner for Manny Pacquiaio. The 2008 U.S. Olympic alternate was brought in to help boxing’s reigning pound-for-pound king prepare for his battle with Miguel Cotto.
Things appeared to work out well all the way around. Pacquiao enjoyed one of the most dominant wins of his career with his 12th round stoppage to capture a major title in a record-breaking seventh weight class. It also capped a 2009 campaign that would cement his claim as both Fighter of the Year as well as the top fighter for the first ten years of the 2000’s.
It wasn’t quite as glamorous for Porter, but enough of a launching pad to get his name in lights and also put his best foot forward while he had everyone’s attention. Among his nine fights in 2009 came three nationally televised appearances – twice on ESPN and a knockout on Showtime’s Shobox series to end his year.
This weekend marks Porter’s fourth televised appearance, but first time as the headlining act as well as his inaugural bout in the Buckeye State after having spent most of his young career fighting in Southeastern United States.
With a homecoming always comes the additional pressure of performing above expectations. However, a considerable amount of the tension was relieved after his 4th round knockout of Jamar Patterson last December on Showtime.
Porter already knew going into that bout that a win there would lead to this weekend’s show. If the knowledge of what lied ahead had any effect on him, then give him credit for offering one hell of a poker face. The 22-year old was dominant, boxing smartly in the early going before taking over and eventually bringing matters to a sudden and violent close in the fourth.
Though ultimately catching a beating, Patterson managed to at least offer a respectable account of himself for however long he lasted. Whether or not Russell Jordan can offer anything similar remains to be seen, though it doesn’t look good on paper.
In Jordan, Porter is matched with a rangy southpaw who has already fought some of the sport’s best welterweights and junior middleweights through just 21 fights as a pro.
That’s where the good news ends.
Against that same level of competition, Jordan is not only winless, but has never made it to the final bell. He enters this bout on the heels of an eighth-round stoppage against Luis Collazo last September.
While nothing is guaranteed, it’s safe to say that Porter’s homecoming bout is designed for him to win, and look spectacular in doing so.
It never takes much for junior flyweight titlist Giovanni Segura (22-1-1, 18KO) to look spectacular. A pair of gloves and an assigned fight almost always does the trick.
For the first time in his seven-year career, Segura gets to do what he does best in his birth state of Guerrero, Mexico. The diminutive slugger heads to Acapulco to face late replacement Walter Tello on Fox Sports’ Top Rank Live series (Saturday, 10PM ET/PT).
This will make four straight appearances south of the border since suffering the lone defeat of his career to date, a lopsided 12-round decision against Cesar Canchilla in July 2008.
Even worse than the loss was the timing, appearing as the co-feature to the biggest win of stablemate Antonio Margarito’s career when he stopped Miguel Cotto inside of eleven rounds.
Rather than eyeing unification bouts and a possible assault on the flyweight division, Segura was instead forced to sit and wait before being afforded the opportunity to rebuild.
The free-swinging Mexican was granted a temporary pass on the basis that Canchilla, an orthodox puncher from Colombia, was a late-replacement for originally scheduled opponent Brahim Asloum, a French southpaw boxer. Still, it took eight months before he could prove the night to be a fluke. In the end, it proved to be well worth the wait, avenging his lone loss with a crushing fourth-round knockout of Canchilla last March.
Saturday’s bout will mark his fourth in the span of just over eleven months, returning to the level of activity he enjoyed before entering the title picture. Prior to last March, Segura fought just once in 20 months, with repeated delays and the eventual cancellation of his title fight with Asloum having a lot to do with what easily serves as the worst period of his pro career.
It’s been smooth sailing ever since, scoring three straight knockouts – with each bout taking place in Mexico and in some form of televised medium. The Canchilla rematch and his most recent win – a 1st round knockout of Sonny Boy Jaro - aired live on the short-lived TV Azteca Solo Boxeo v2.0 series, while his summer clash with Juanito Rubillar came via pay-per-view.
Making his way to live television has never been much of an issue for Segura, who was a regular on the now-defunct Telefutura Solo Boxeo series. What has been problematic is securing big fights with the best in and around his division.
Sadly, his name rarely even comes up when unification matches are even discussed; perhaps out of fear that he beats someone considered to be a bigger draw.
Whatever the case, far too much of his career has been about taking whatever fight is offered, without promise of bigger and better to come. There’s a long way to go before we discover if Shawn Porter ultimately suffers the same fate, as he is still in the building stages of his career, and is at least a couple of years away from the title picture – or as a future candidate for boxing’s most avoided, given the current marketplace.
But before stressing about what may or may not lie ahead for either fighter, both can take comfort in the fact that – even if only for a weekend – there’s no place like home.
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 .
