Nino shocks Viloria to snatch WBC title

A stunning upset rocked the boxing world yesterday when unheralded Mexican fighter Omar Nino-Romero dethroned the previously undefeated Fil-Am topdog Brian Viloria by unanimous decision to snatch the World Boxing Council (WBC) light flyweight title at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Not only he delivered Viloria's first defeat, Nino likewise knocked out the Hawaiian Punch's plan to set up a money fight against strawweight champion Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon and a unification bout with WBA jr flyweight title-holder Koki Komeda of Japan.

The verdict was as crystal clear in favor of Nino, who outboxed, outworked and simply beat Viloria to the punch. The official scores were 118-110, 117-112 and 117-111.

"I came here to win," said Nino in a report by espn.com. "I didn't come here to do anything else but win this title."

It was Nino's first title shot in 11 years as a pro.

Nino slammed several sharp jabs on Viloria's face and also landed uppercuts and left hooks. When the dust settled, Nino landed 245-of-778 punches, while Viloria only made 113-of-398 blows.

Just as the multitude of boxing pundits who gave Nino a very slim chance of pulling an upset, the setback left Viloria in state of shock.

"I'm in shock right now. I don't know what to do right now. It's just a shock," said Viloria.

"I fought a stupid fight tonight. I was waiting for him and I needed to throw my combinations like I was supposed to. I needed to be a lot more aggressive," added the 2000 US Olympian who is among the most exciting fighters in the smaller weight divisions.

Viloria, who was making the second defense of the WBC belt he won by first-round knockout of Eric Oritz in September last year, said he won't make any execuses for his defeat and that he looks forward to a rematch with Nino if given a chance.

"I knew in the last couple of rounds I needed to knock out. (Trainer Freddie Roach) told me before the 12th round to go out there and knock him out. You just have bad nights. Tonight was mine. I don't want to make any excuses. I'd like to see if I can get a rematch with him," said Viloria.

Nino, 30, improved to 24-2-1 (10KOs), while Viloria, 25, fell to 19-1 (12KOs).

Before Viloria's defeat, there were some bright moments for the Filipinos when super flyweight Diosdado "Prince" Gabi (27-3-1, 19 KOs) impressively demolished three-time world champion Mauricio Pastrana (32-7-2, 20 KOs). Gabi floored Pastrana twice in 96 seconds on the way to a resounding first round TKO victory.