Viloria Wins

Yesterday, Brian Viloria convincingly defeated Jose Antonio Aguirre in defense of his WBC Light Flyweight(108lbs) title. Viloria came out throwing in the first round, landing several solid punches in the first round, seeming to hurt Aguirre. Showing why he'd been a champion, Aguirre came back, nearly knocking Viloria down as he took the second and third rounds in dominating fashion. Viloria had slowed down, perhaps tired after his first-frame-flurry. Aguirre took the initiative, establishing a jab, throwing combinations, and forcing Viloria back to the ropes. At least twice, Viloria looked ready to fall.

Starting in round 4, Viloria finally followed his trainer, Freddie Roach's, advice and started moving forward again, using his jab to set up left hooks and other shots to the body. While Aguirre fought back initially, it was soon clear that Viloria had taken the fight in hand, and by the end there was no doubt as to the decision. Viloria had dominated the final 8 rounds, particularly using his left hook and a straight rights to both body and head. Aguirre was barely able to participate in the silly pre-decision posturing that his handlers forced on him. He was a beaten man.

The Mexico v Philippines boxing rivalry has been a hot one, and the Pinoy fans were wanting a knockout. Viloria did not provide one, as he slowed a bit in the later rounds, but the crowd's disappointment is eased by the fact that this is the 9th straight Filipino victory in the rivalry.

Aguirre has lost 3 straight fights (two by KO) at light flyweight, and it may be that he is not able to compete in this class. He moved up after Eagle Kyowa dominated him, taking his WBC Minimumweight title in convincing fashion.

Hopefully, there will soon be a fight between Viloria and Roberto Vasquez, who currently holds the WBA Light Flyweight belt. Vasquez's only loss came in a controversial 4 round decision in his first pro fight, and nobody's come close to beating him since he moved up past 10-round fights. Vasquez beat Aguirre into submission last year, and comparing that performance to Viloria's against Aguirre-----it doesn't look good for Viloria. Vasquez will have reach on Viloria, just as Viloria had reach on Aguirre. Of course, that sort of thinking doesn't always (or even often) apply to boxing, and that's why, as they say, "you fight the fights".

Vasquez is fighting an unimpressive Venezualan fighter named Noel Arambulet in a couple of months. Assuming that he wins, we may see Vasquez and Viloria on the undercard of a big fight in the Fall (Pacquiao v Morales III?). If it happens, it'll be a fight that I'll watch.

License to Be Killed

"Baby Joe" Mesi has been granted a license to box in Puerto Rico. After suffering two subdural hematomas (bleeding under the dura, or membrane covering the brain), and being suspended because of this, Mesi has now been cleared to fight once more.

According to this article on MSN/Fox, Mesi is tentatively scheduled to face an unnamed tomato can on April 1st, with plans to gradually step up his level of competition.

Mesi once showed some promise, with his last victory coming over then-regarded Vasily Jirov, which followed victories over Monte Barrett and DaVarryl Williamson (1st round KO). Mesi had won over a great many fans, though serious analysts were largely unsold on him. He filled the money-making "great white hope" niche, that a great many folks are looking to exploit. My "hope" that he decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and abandons this foolhardy enterprise.

What's Shaking...

As usual, there are a lot of stories in the world of boxing. Here's a few highlights:

Ronald "Winky" Wright and Jermain Taylor are said to have signed for a fight on June 17. HBO has not put this on their schedule yet, though. I think that Wright will defeat Taylor, unless Taylor looks better than he did against Hopkins (of course Hopkins makes a lot of people look bad).

Arturo "Stuck Pig" Gatti has had surgery to re-attach a ligament in his frequently fractured hand. He says he'll start boxing again this Summer. I'd like to see him fight Baldomir, and I'm sure that's what'll happen. Money makes the match-ups.

The plans to make tons of money on a Pacquiao v Morales rematch are not yet set. Pacquiao, who beat the frijoles out of Morales on January 21, is refusing to fight at an arbitrarily set weight of 132, and insisting on fighting their third bout, as the two previous, at 130 lbs (super-flyweight). Morales says that he had trouble making this weight for their last fight. Some folks speculate that this is a ploy by Morales to avoid losing face (and blood) by avoiding another thrashing at Pacquiao's hands. If Manny fights Erik at the higher weight, Manny (who is naturally around 128-130) would be at a distinct disadvantage. Story here.

The Wladmir Klitschko v Chris Byrd fight will be on HBO Championship boxing----meaning, no PPV. I'll definitely watch this, and you guys are all invited....I might even throw another hunka pig on the fire.

A guy named Dan Colgan thinks that Oscar de la Hoya can beat Floyd Mayweather, Jr. I don't know what he's smoking. I like the Golden Boy and all, but "Pretty Boy Floyd" will murderize him. I don't know why Oscar is even considering this, but he is. Story here.

Nikolay "Holy Crap He's Big" Valuev will be defending the WBA crown he won from Johnny "Louise" Ruiz against Owen "What the Heck" Beck on April 1. Beck hasn't exactly been a top contender lately, but he is a Don King fighter, and that, combined with his expected harmlessness, is probably why he's being used as another "tune-up" for Valuev (Don King recently became a "promotional partner" of Valuev's team as a part of the deal for the Ruiz fight). This article has some good info on Valuev, and provides some interesting trivia on other 7-footers from boxing history. It also posits that, after disposing of Beck, Valuev will be matched up (possibly against Kevin "snicker" McBride) on HBO in September, but that the real goal is a Klitschko v Valuev Aryan championship fight in Germany.

He's No Big Dummy

Not to be confused with LaMont "You Big Dummy" Sanford, Lamon Brewster is fighting again to defend his title. It has been written recently that he would be fighting Wladmir Klitschko , (whom he knocked out in 2004) in the Spring, but it appears that this is not going to happen after all. He has picked another funny-named white guy to pummel. (Meanwhile, Wlad is fighting Chris Byrd, whom he convincingly beat in 2000, on 4/22/6. This another fight I want to see---the glass-jawed Wlad versus the very skilled, but very boring Chris Byrd for the IBF and vacant IBO titles. Byrd won't be able to run from Wlad's reach, but if Byrd can land a punch....)

Brewster is fighting Serguei "The White Wolf" Lyakhovich, a large (6'4") Belorussian fellow who has went from no-name to name, to no-name, and then back to name once again. He first drew attention when he handed Friday "The 13th" Ahunanya his first loss, and in the process winning the NABA's alphabet belt. He reverted to no-name status when he was KO'ed by Maurice Harris, a tomato can who reminded everybody that any heavyweight can hit hard. Lyakhovich resurfaced in December of 2004 when he outpointed Dominick "The Southern Disaster" Guinn. Lyakhovich was supposed to be Guinn's first step on the road to regaining top-tier contender status. Guinn got a surprise (Guinn went on to draw with Ahunanya, lose a decision to James Toney, and will next be fighting Audley Harrison, another one-time contender, looking to get back on track after a loss to Danny Williams.

Brewster once said that he intended to show that the "super-sized" heavyweights were no match for a skilled, smart fighter such as him. Brewster was referring to the brothers Klitschko, but Lyakhovich would appear to be another chance for him to prove the point that he made against Wlad, Golota, and Krasniqi. If I can find this fight, I will watch it.

Is There More Than Just Manny?

I spent the day before yesterday watching recordings of old boxing matches with my beloved father-in-law. As you might imagine, the vast majority of the fights featured at least one Filipino pugilist.

Two fighters, both of whom are popular in the Philippines, were favorites of my father-in-law, but were little known to me.

Brian Viloria, I had read a bit about, but I had only seen him fight once before. We watched a DVD of his fight with Eric Ortiz, in which Viloria scored a 1st round K.O., winning the WBC light flyweight (108 lbs) championship belt. Viloria is fighting the Mexican Jose Antonio Aguirre, from whom Ortiz had won the belt, on 2/18, and you'd better believe that we'll be watching.

Roberto Vasquez, the WBA light-flyweight champion who KO'ed Aguirre last August, might be a better match for Viloria, but Vasquez is Panamanian, and you can't overstate the Filipino-Mexican rivalry when it comes to selling tickets and PPV's. Add in that Aguirre is managed by Erik "Manny broke my nose" Morales, and that Viloria is managed by Manny's trainer Freddie Roach, and the pot is stirred further.

Viloria looks to have good punching power for this low weight class, but I didn't see enough to be able to predict how he'll do. He is an American citizen (born in Hawaii), very charismatic, speaks wittily and well in a coupla languages, and will probably generate a lot of interest, so long as he continues to win. Viloria served as announcer for several of the "Solar Sports Network" fights that we watched, including the Filipino broadcasts of the HBO-promoted Manny Pacquiao fights, and he did as well as any fighter/announcer I've seen, with the exception of the charming George Foreman (who really should announce more).

The second of these Filipino phenomenons is the wonderfully named Jimrex Jaca. He is not in the class of Viloria, methinks, but he was very entertaining in his dismantling of the outclassed Geronimo Hernandez. Jaca has mostly fought bums thus far, losing his alphabet belt (OBPF super-bantam-weight) by KO to the definitely less-than-stellar Yasuo Kunimi (I've seen this guy fight, and my sister could take him). To make matters worse, he was KO'ed after not making the weight. Tsk, tsk.

In the era of Manny Pacquiao, boxing is more popular than ever in the RP. "Punching Meters" are springing up in shopping centers everywhere, which enable aspiring practitioners of "the sweet science" to assess how they measure up to their hero.

Neither of these guys will surpass Manny any time soon, but there will be no shortage of fans lining up to worship them should Manny's star fall.