Boxing legends coming to town

MANILA, Philippines - Mexican ring legends Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Marco Antonio Barrera are arriving in Manila to do a live broadcast of the WBO flyweight title bout between defending champion Brian Viloria and challenger Giovanni Segura at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig on Dec. 11.

It will be Viloria’s first defense of the 112-pound crown he wrested from Julio Cesar Miranda in Honolulu last July. Chavez and Barrera will serve as co-analysts on the TV Azteca panel. They were also on the Mexican TV panel that covered the recent Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight in Las Vegas.

Solar Entertainment chief executive officer Peter Chanliong said the fight will be staged Sunday morning here to air live Saturday night in Mexico and the US. Topping the undercard is an IBF superfeatherweight title eliminator between No. 4 contender Fahsai (Mountain Boy) Sakkreerin of Thailand and No. 5 contender Martin Honorio of Mexico. Also seeing action in the undercard are two unbeaten Filipino prospects, IBF Pan Pacific lightweight champion Al Sabaupan and flyweight Lolito Sonsona.

Viloria and Segura are expected to plane in a week before their bout. Pacquiao, WBO lightflyweight titlist Donnie Nietes, WBC/WBO bantamweight king Nonito Donaire Jr. and Viloria are the only reigning Filipino world champions today.

Viloria, who turns 31 today, is expected to face a stiff challenge from Segura, ranked No. 9 by The Ring Magazine in the world’s pound-for-pound ratings. Segura, 29, boasts a 28-1-1 record, with 24 KOs, including 11 in the first round. He is a known as a vicious body puncher. Two of his victims, Ivan Calderon of Puerto Rico and Filipino Sonny Boy Jaro, were stopped by gut-wrenching body blows.

While Viloria and Segura both stand 5-4, the Mexican has a five-inch reach advantage which he intends to put to good use in keeping the Hawaiian Punch within his strike zone. Since losing a decision to Cesar Canchilla three years ago, Segura has scored nine KOs in a row. He is fresh from a first round knockout over Eddy Zuniga in a superflyweight match in Toluca last June. Aside from Jaro, Segura’s other Filipino knockout victim was Juanito Rubillar who fell in six. Segura is a former WBA/WBO lightflyweight and IBA flyweight champion.

Viloria has a 29-3 record, with 16 KOs. He lost his IBF lighflyweight diadem to Carlos Tamara here last year but has bounced back to win three straight and put his career back on track.

New York’s Samuel Viruet, 65, will work the fight as referee. He was also the third man in the ring when WBO superflyweight champion Fernando Montiel retained his title on a split decision over Z Gorres in Cebu in 2007. Appointed as judges in the Viloria-Segura bout were Filipino lawyer Danrex Tapdasan, Harry Davis of Canada and William Lerch of Chicago.

Honorio, 31, was thwarted by Robert Guerrero in his first bid for a world title in 2007. Guerrero stopped Honorio in less than a minute in an IBF featherweight championship bout. The 5-9 1/2 Mexican is coming off back-to-back wins over Eugenio Lopez and Sergio Perez to raise his record to 31-6-1, with 16 KOs. Sakkreerin, 30, has a 36-2 record, with 20 KOs. One of his losses was to Saragani’s Joel Escol who scored an upset sixth round knockout in 2005. The Thai lists a slew of Filipino victims, including Randy Megrino, Roel Laguna, Ericson Origenes, Edgar Gabejan, Elpher Paganpan, Johnny Lear, Dondon Lapuz, Nathan Barcelona, Rodney Alba, Robert Dalisay, Edward Escriber, Charlie Angel and Benjie Concepcion.

Sabaupan, 23, has a 17-0-1 record, with 12 KOs, while Sonsona’s mark is 15-0-2, with five KOs.