Viloria seals title shot

It’s a done deal. Brian Viloria will challenge WBO flyweight champion Julio Cesar (Pingo) Miranda of Mexico early next year. That’s the word from Viloria’s manager Gary Gittelsohn who was at ringside to witness the Hawaiian Punch’s seventh round demolition of tough Thai warrior Liempetch Sor Veerapol at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last Friday night.

“I see it happening in the first quarter of next year,” said Gittelsohn who is based in Los Angeles. “I’ve talked with the WBO president (Paco Valcarcel) who’s a good friend and Miranda’s people. We still haven’t set the date and venue. It could be in late February or early March. It could be in Manila or Hawaii or Las Vegas or Mexico.”

Miranda, 30, won the vacant WBO 112-pound title via a fifth round stoppage of Filipino Richie Mepranum in Puebla, Mexico, last June. Keeping busy, he has since repulsed two Colombian challengers Ronald Ramos (TKO8) and Michael Arango (KO2) to raise his record to 34-5-1, with 27 KOs, including 13 in the first three rounds. Four of his losses were by decision and two were to IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane and WBC titlist Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. No question, Miranda is a quality fighter and will be a tough opponent for Viloria.

But Viloria, who’s set to marry long-time girlfriend Erica Navarro in Hawaii on Dec. 3, said he’s ready for Miranda.

“Right after the wedding, it’s back to the gym for me,” said Viloria. “No honeymoon yet. We’ll plan on a honeymoon after I beat Miranda and win the title.”

Gittelsohn said Viloria was back to his aggressive style in mowing down Liempetch.

“Brian looked great,” said Gittelsohn. “I thought the Thai fought dirty. Twice, he tried to body slam Brian – which got Brian angry. It’s good Brian reacted the way he did because he tends to be too nice. The Thai tried to rough him up, hitting behind the head, butting and throwing low blows. It was unbelievable what he tried to do. I saw the old Brian again. He was all fired up. He was very self-confident.”

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Gittelsohn said Mexican trainer Mario Morales’ arrival has brought back Viloria’s explosive form.

“Mario’s a real boxing man and works Brian very hard,” said Gittelsohn. “He was a tough fighter himself, an old-school boxing guy. He pushes Brian to the limit. He wants Brian on the attack because that’s where he’s at his best. He doesn’t want Brian counterpunching. He wants him aggressive, throwing a lot of punches and putting pressure on his opponents.”

Viloria, who turns 30 on Nov. 24, said he focused more on offense than defense in disposing of Liempetch.

“The guy tried to turn it into a wrestling match,” said Viloria. “I guess he got frustrated. I pressured him from the start. I knew I’d get hit coming in but I was determined to let my hands go.”

Viloria decked Liempetch with a body shot in the fifth round and sent him down twice in the seventh before referee Ferdie Estrella called it off at the 2:09 mark. Gittelsohn flew back to Los Angeles last night while Viloria leaves tonight.

“It was a competitive fight,” said Estrella. “Liempetch isn’t a bum. He’s good with fast hands. But he lacked lateral movement and couldn’t take Brian’s body shots. I was surprised he got up from the first knockdown. In the seventh, Brian went for the head and I heard his cornerman screaming to go to the body. Brian heard him. I stopped it after Liempetch went down twice in the round.”

Estrella said he didn’t think Liempetch won a single round but it wasn’t a cakewalk for Viloria. “Brian got hit, too,” said Estrella. “The Thai did a lot of counterpunching and even got off first at times. But he couldn’t take Brian’s power. What I noticed was Brian didn’t run out of gas. In his last fight, I thought he started to slow down after seven rounds.”

Estrella said early in the first stanza, Viloria had difficulty finding his range, missing haymakers, but quickly adjusted as he came forward to pressure Liempetch.

In the undercard, former WBC lightflyweight champion Rodel Mayol halted Thailand’s Pompetch Twins Gym in the seventh and WBC International minimumweight ruler Denver Cuello stopped another Thai, Kongkrai Kiatpracha, in a single round.

Cuello’s manager Aljoe Jaro said he didn’t want to prolong the agony.

“Denver was supposed to fight after Mayol,” said Jaro. “But Mayol’s fight took longer than expected so we were told Denver would fight after Brian. Denver was already warmed up to fight after Mayol. I got irritated waiting long so I told Denver to get it over with quickly so we could all go home right away. That’s why Kongkrai went down three times. Even if we fought after Brian, the crowd stayed to watch Denver.”

Jaro said he’s awaiting confirmation for Cuello to challenge WBA and WBO lightflyweight champion Giovani Segura of Mexico in Tijuana on Nov. 27. “It’s not definite,” said Jaro. “I prefer Denver to stay in the 105-pound division but none of the champions wants to fight him. Everyone’s avoiding Denver. So we’ve got no choice but to move up. Denver told me if he survives the first four rounds with Segura, he’ll win. He wants Segura. He wants to be a world champion.”

Jaro said if he’s not able to finalize the fight against Segura, he’ll fly to Nicaragua to attend the WBA convention on Nov. 22-27 to negotiate another deal for Cuello. “Denver’s ripe for a world title shot,” said Jaro. “We’re getting impatient. Just like we got impatient in the fight against Kongkrai.”