CHAMP offers no excuses: Mexican dethrones Viloria

LAS VEGAS — In a startling upset, highly-favored Brian Viloria fought listlessly in losing the World Boxing Council (WBC) lightflyweight title to unheralded Mexican challenger Omar Niño Romero via a unanimous 12-round decision at the Orleans Arena here Thursday night (yesterday morning, Manila).

Viloria was only a shadow of the fighter who knocked out Eric Ortiz in a single round to wrest the WBC crown in Los Angeles last year. He was tentative, far from aggressive and allowed Romero — nicknamed El Maestrito (the little teacher or master) — to dictate the tempo most of the way.

Viloria’s manager Gary Gittelsohn said he never expected the Fil-Am from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, and Waipahu, Hawaii, to lose and was baffled by his anemic performance.

"I’ve watched Brian in all his fights since he turned pro and he’s never fought like that," said Gittelsohn. "I’m very surprised. My priority now is to make sure he’s physically fine. Then, we’ll sit down and assess the future. I’m sure he’ll want to reestablish himself and figure out what went wrong."

Gittelsohn said Romero is contractually bound to give Viloria a rematch after his first title defense. But he’s not thinking of the clause at the moment. What’s important, said Gittelsohn, is for Viloria to decide what to do the rest of his life.

Viloria’s father Ben said his son’s future is up in the air. "Maybe, he should stop fighting for now and go back to school since he has about two more years left before earning his degree," said the elder Viloria. "I think he’s overwhelmed by all the attention he’s gotten since becoming the champion. This loss will put his feet back on the ground."

Viloria, 25, admitted he didn’t do enough to retain the title.

"I’m in shock," he said. "I just didn’t fight my fight. My (right) hand was fine. The injury (hairline fracture of the fourth metacarpal) has healed completely. I have no excuses. I give Omar credit for coming into the fight ready to win."

Viloria said he felt the sense of urgency in the last two rounds when trainer Freddie Roach told him the title was slipping away and his only hope was to put Romero on the canvas.

Gittelsohn said although Viloria couldn’t use his injured right hand for four months (it was in a cast for four weeks), he trained hard for eight weeks to prepare for Romero.

"His training was excellent," said Gittelsohn. "I don’t think he was burned out. In the gym, he was seriously hurting bigger guys. So I don’t really know why he fought that way."

Roach said Viloria just wouldn’t break out of his funk.

"I thought Brian did a good job in the first round and he hurt Romero a few times," said Roach. "Romero came in scared of Brian’s power. But Brian gave him confidence to come back. Brian was outhustled. Romero worked harder, threw a lot more punches. Romero was a perfect opponent for Brian but Brian just wasn’t himself."

Ricardo Jimenez, a former Mexican sportswriter who works for Top Rank Promotions as a publicist, said Viloria had no antidote for Romero’s counterpunching style. "Actually, both are counterpunchers and that’s why there were stretches where they just waited for each other to initiate," said Jimenez. "Romero was smart not to engage Viloria in a slugfest. Viloria didn’t know how to fight a counterpuncher and he wasn’t aggressive in taking the fight to Romero."

Romero took the initiative from the start, throwing a wide variety of punches. Viloria replied with a few telling blows but Romero’s workrate was far too high. Viloria staged a mild rally in the middle rounds. Romero, however, came back to end the fight with a flourish, using a dizzying left jab to ignite his attack.

Viloria stormed out of his corner in the 12th round, gunning for a knockout. Romero refused to oblige, coasted and ended the fight looking fresher. Viloria was a picture of defeat at the final bell, the right side of his face swollen grotesquely from Romero’s overhands.

Neither fighter was in danger of going down and referee Kenny Bayless, who worked the second Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales fight last January, had no difficulty in the ring. There were sporadic low blows and some wayward headbutts but on the whole, the fight was clean.

Judge Mark Green scored it 117-112 (Viloria took three rounds with one even, the rest for Romero). Judge Adalaide Byrd saw it 118-110, 8-2 in rounds for Romero and judge Chuck Giampa, 117-111 or 9-3 in rounds for the Mexican.

"Everyone’s entitled to a bad night sometime," said Viloria. ’This was my bad night. Romero fought well, like (Jose Antonio) Aguirre (whom Viloria decisioned in his first defense) and was determined to win. I wasn’t distracted by talk of a Koki Kameda fight. I just didn’t do what was expected of me."

Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis (Chavit) Singson, who was in the ring when Viloria was introduced by ring announcer Michael Buffer before the fight, put his arm around the dethroned champion’s shoulder after the fight and consoled him, saying, ’That’s how life is."

Viloria’s record dropped to 19-1, with 12 KOs, while Romero improved his mark to 24-2-1, with 10 KOs.

It wasn’t a total eclipse for the Philippines here. In the undercard, flyweight contender Diosdado (Lionheart) Gabi of Davao City blasted veteran Mauricio Pastrana into submission at 1:36 of the first round. Pastrana, a former three-time world champion, went down thrice before referee Richard Steele called it a night.