Viloria defends world crown

All eyes will be on world light-flyweight champion Brian Viloria and his ability to remain as a potent 108lb fighter when he takes on Carlos Tamara of Colombia in a 12-round title championship fight today at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The two-division champion Viloria, 29, has been dodging few but seemingly irksome issues about punishing himself to make the weight limit just to keep his International Boxing Federation (IBF) ligh-flyweight belt.

“Everybody thinks I’m crazy making the weight since I was 14 years old. I love the training camp and the situation there,” said Viloria, also a former world flyweight kingpin.

Nicknamed “The Hawaiian Punch”, Viloria (26-2, 15 knockouts) has been on a roll since hooking up with trainer Roberto Garcia and setting up most of his training camp at the La Colonia Boxing Club in Oxnard, California.

Viloria proved how comfortable he is in his division by easily making the weight in yesterday’s weigh-in held at the Manila Hotel.

While Viloria had an easy time to make the weight limit, 26 year-old Tamara (20-4, 14 KOs) needed almost half an hour to lose excess poundage to make the 108-pound limit.

Wearing a boxer brief, Tamara tipped in half a pound over the limit in his first try, but made the weight just the same after minutes of shadow boxing outside the hall.

Instead of being affected, Tamara’s coach Butch Sanchez sounded fired up about his fighter and even predicted a stoppage.

“I think late round stoppage,” Sanchez said. “But a decision is just fine. ‘W’ is just as good as stoppage.”

“I’ll just rest, eat and I might come in tomorrow (today) about six pounds heavier,” Viloria said.

Told about the Sanchez’s prediction, Viloria’s coach was all smile.

“If they think that way, then I’ll know were going to have a good fight. The fans are going to enjoy a great fight,” he said.

Garcia said Viloria’s power punch and tactical defense will spell the difference.

“Tamara is a smart fighter and he’s a little bit taller than Brian. He’s going to use his reach advantage but we know Brian is a great power puncher. We have 12 rounds to do our work,” Garcia said. “He’s a very talented fighter and he has a very good defense and he could make his opponents miss and he also hits hard. He even hits harder than a lot of featherweights. That’s the big advantage.”

If there’s one thing that motivates Tamara to do well in the fight, it’s the fact that he’s the heavy underdog.

“I love the fact that a lot of people here are not giving us a shot. It’s almost a dejavu for us. It feels good that a lot of people are thinking that Viloria is going to retain his title,” Sanchez said.

Viloria will be making the second defense of his IBF crown which he won via a scintillating 11th round stoppage of longtime ruler Ulisses Solis of Mexico April of last year at the Araneta Coliseum.

In the main supporting bout of the card dubbed “Collision Course”, WBO world minimumweight champion Donnie Nietes sees action in a non-title 10-round bout opposite Mexican knockout artist Jesus Silvestre (15-1, 12 KO’s).

The 27-year-old Nietes (25-1-3, 14 KO’s) wants to keep himself busy and stay on course in his own attempt to unify the 105lb division.

Also seeing action in the undercard is the much-awaited debut of Dodie Boy Penalosa, Jr. who will battle five-fight veteran Anthony Balubar in a six-round super bantamweight clash.

The event will be beamed live in the United States with the first bout set to start at 8 a.m.

Source: Francis Santiago  | Manila Bulletin

Bata, Django lead Asians vs Euro stars

Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante expect a tough grind when they spearhead the Asian charge in the Asia vs Europe Men’s 9-Ball Team Challenge that starts this Friday at the Sutra Hall, Rizqun International Hotel in Brunei.

Reyes said beating their rivals will be a tall order since they lack of time to practice with their teammates.

“It will be a very tough match against the top European players. The Europeans are a very solid team and I still don’t know much about my teammates from Taiwan and Brunei,” the 55-year-old Reyes told a local newspaper upon their arrival in Brunei.

Bustamante agreed with his long-time buddy.

“We are expecting tough matches but we will try our best to beat the Europeans who are very young and strong,” said Bustamante, who will play for the first time in the former English colony.

Reyes and Bustamante, whose successful partnership earned them a second World Cup of Pool title in Manila last year, will be joined by host’s Teo Chee Soon and Taiwanese Ko Pin Yi and Lu Hui Chan in the World Pool Billiards-Association-sanctioned event that stakes a total cash prize of $45,000 (P2.1 million).

“We will need a lot of luck if we are to upset the Europeans. In 9-ball pool, luck is important,” added the former double world champion Reyes, who will be playing for the third time in Brunei.

Reyes had earlier competed in the 1999 Brunei Southeast Asian Games and the Brunei Invitational 9-ball Pool Championship four years ago.

Team Europe is made up of World no. 2 Ralf Souquet of Germany, Darren Appleton and Imran Majid of England, Ruslan Chinahov of Russia and Nick Van Den Berg of Holland.

Both teams will play 15 matches five double and 10 single events with the squad piling up the highest number of won match at the end of competition be declared the team champion.

Every double event and single event won by each team is equivalent to one point with doubles event enforcing a Scotch doubles format.

Source: Francis Santiago  | Manila Bulletin

Boxers should not set rules, Viloria says

The buzz about the cancelled Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout maybe over for now, but Brian Viloria is not yet done rattling off his take in the dream match that was billed as the richest in boxing history.

In a free-wheeling chat with reporters Wednesday, the reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) light-flyweight champion said Pacquiao made the right decision not to give into the demands of the Mayweather camp to conduct an Olympic-style of (random) blood testing – a kind of test beyond the ordinary.

The governing Nevada State Athletics only requires urine tests for the proposed March 13 fight in Las Vegas.

Both camps did not see eye to eye with the issue, prompting Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter to cancel the fight.

“It’s a shame for boxing that Mayweather had to go down to that point (demand a blood test). Boxers should not set laws or rules but rather abide by them,” Viloria said.

“I don’t see the point why fighters should demand ‘you have to do this and do that.’ The commission should have the authority and not the boxers dictating what another fighter needs to do.”

With the collapse of the negotiation, Pacquiao has been penciled to face Ghanaian Joshua Clottey whom he’ll face in an 80,000-capacity stadium in Dallas.

“Manny is the draw here. Mayweather thinks he’s the draw but nobody cares about him,” Viloria said.

Source: Francis Santiago  | Manila Bulletin