VILORIA FIGHTS CARTAGENA IN THE RUNGVISAI-GONZALEZ "SUPERFLY" REMATCH UNDERCARD
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 08 Sep 2017
Brian "Hawaiian Punch" Viloria moves to the higher super flyweight category and will fight on the division's biggest card of the year. Viloria, a former junior flyweight and flyweight champion, will encounter his second foe in the super flyweight division and it will be against Miguel Cartagena on an 8-round match on September 9 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. In a trio of big time fights, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai will be facing again Roman Gonzalez in a rematch, Carlos Cuadras battling Juan Francisco Estrada and Naoya Inoue will be defending his crown against Antonio Nieves.
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Both Gonzalez and Estrada have defeated Viloria. Gonzalez won by 9th round TKO for the WBC flyweight title while Estrada prevailed by a split decision for the WBA and WBO flyweight belts over the Filipino-Hawaiian former two-weight division world champion. Gonzalez and Estrada had crossed paths in 2012 with "Chocolatito" prevailing by a unanimous decision. They are slated to face each other again if they both win against their respective opponents on Saturday.
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Viloria rested for more than a year after his 9th round TKO loss to Gonzalez in 2015 before returning to active duty last March, winning a decision over Ruben Montoya in Tokyo. He admitted after the fight that he felt "a little rusty." Montoya of Tamaulipas, Mexico was 14-4-1, 9 KOs during that bout and has never fought since.
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"I'm very excited to be on this important card," stated Viloria in an interview. "I haven't missed a day of roadwork, and I've been putting in the hours at the Wild Card Gym so that I can give my hometown fans in Los Angeles what they always expect of me ? my very best. I'm refreshed and strong, and nothing's going to stand in my way of winning another world title."
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Viloria's manager Gary Gittelsohn said if Viloria's performance would be impressive it could give him a chance to fight one of the winners of the "Superfly" boxing card, but could possibly return to 112 pounds. "If Brian turns in an impressive performance on September 9th as we expect, we will consider facing one of the winners on the card or pursuing the flyweight world title," Gittelsohn was quoted by Rappler. "I can tell you Brian has looked marvelous in the gym and I've never seen him more motivated."
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Brian Viloria (37-5, 22 KOs) will face Miguel Cartagena in an eight rounder in the junior bantamweight category. Cartagena is an Puerto-Rican American has a record of 15-3-1, 6 KOs. Nicknamed "No Fear," the 25-year old Philadelphia-born fighter won the vacant IBO international super bantamweight title by a unanimous decision win over Javier Franco of Mexico. He lost to fellow Puerto Rican Emmanuel Rodriguez for the WBO Latino superflyweight via first round KO.
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Viloria says the most difficult thing in facing Gonzalez is ''the way he covers the distance so fast and just the amount of punches he throws at different angles and his precision is what makes him a difficult fighter. It's not so much his power but just more of his accuracy and the way he imposes himself."
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Viloria talks of Estrada too: "It's just the ranginess that makes it difficult. The way he moves in and out and gets out of the pocket and then gets back in. He does that really well and he loves to move around and he loves to use his range and his foot movements are great."
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Last March 18 Sor Rungvisai scored a big upset over "Chocolatito" in a very controversial decision to win the WBC title. Because of the criticisms, the sanctioning body mandated a rematch between the two protagonists. The encounter between Estrada and Cuadras is a WBC eliminator with the winner gaining the right to face the victor of the main event between Rungvisai and Gonzalez.
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Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight failed to set a record for ticket revenues. Figures released show over 7,000 seats were empty at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena. The match generated $55.4M, the second-highest boxing gate income in history. But it failed to break the ticket sales of $72.2M when Mayweather beat Manny Pacquiao in 2015. The pay-per-view sales will be finalized in the coming days.
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Figures from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) showed 13,094 tickets were sold. There were 137 given away as complimentary tickets, making the total attendance of13,231. The T-Mobile Arena capacity is 20,500 for boxing events. The high price of tickets was the main reason for the mediocre attendance, with some reaching ticket prices as high as $10,000.
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The NSAC numbers show Mayweather was part of six of the seven highest-earning gates in boxing. Of the top-seven gates recorded in the state of Nevada, only Lennox Lewis' win over Evander Holyfield in 1999, fifth on the all-time list at present, does not headline Mayweather.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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