VILORIA VS. DALAKIAN, THE OTHER FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IN "SUPERFLY 2"
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 22 Jan 2018
There is another flyweight world title fight on the card "Superfly 2" on February 24 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. But it won't be part of HBO's coverage in the United States. Former two-division world titleholder Brian Viloria (38-5, 23 KOs), 37, a Filipino-Hawaiian fighting out of Los Angeles, will face Ukraine's Artem Dalakian (15-0, 11 KOs), 30, for the vacant WBA world flyweight title recently vacated by Japan's Kazuto Ioka, who announced his retirement.
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Viloria was defeated in a lopsided ninth-round knockout loss to then-flyweight champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez in October 2015. Theh he took a leave from fighting to meditate on his boxing future. In March, 17 months after that loss, Viloria returned with the goal to get one more world title shot before hanging up his gloves for good. He won two fights in 2017 and he now has that title shot in front of him.
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"Brian is attempting to become a world champion for a fifth time and has long been one of Southern California's most popular fighters, while Dalakian is undefeated and hungry for his first world title," said Tom Loeffler, who managed the newly established 360 Promotions which is holding the boxing card.
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Dalakian will be fighting outside of Ukraine for the first time and he will face the first big named foe of his career. But he is very confident of earning a victory. "Brian Viloria is a good boxer and was a champion, but his time is up. I'm going to the United States to become a world champion and to prove to everyone that I'm the best," he said.
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The "Hawaiian Punch" stated that he had no big thoughts of moving up to 115-pounds as of the moment. He grabs the present opportunity to fight for the flyweight title. "There was a little discussion of it. I spoke to my manager, Gary Gittlesohn about it but this opportunity for 112 opened up for me and it's a chance to get another world title."
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Freddie Roach prefers Vasyl Lomachenko than Terence Crawford as Manny Pacquiao?s next opponent. The Hall of Fame trainer thinks fighting Crawford, who was once the undisputed junior welterweight champion, would be too dangerous for Pacquiao due to the unbeaten American?s advantage in size and younger age. Lomachenko is currently the WBO 135-pound champion and for a fight with Pacquiao to happen, Roach said the fighting legislator will have to reduce weight and fight the Ukranian KO specialist at 140 pounds.
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?I love the Lomachenko fight,? Roach told BoxingScene. ?I like that better because I?ve been hearing so much about Terence Crawford lately. And Terence might be a little bit too young and a little bit too big at this point. But the other way [Lomachenko], I like that fight for Manny. All we need is one tune-up fight, and we?ll go into [the Lomachenko] fight, no problem.?
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Jerwin Ancajas was a busy champion in 2017, and the next two years would be busier after he signed a promotional contract with Top Rank. Ancajas got a two-year 6-fight deal with Bob Arum's company, and will have his first fight with Top Rank on February 3 when he faces Israel Gonzalez on an ESPN-televised card from the Bank of America Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. It will be Ancajas? first fight in the United States, and his fourth defense of the IBF junior bantamweight title that he has successfully defended in Macau, Australia and Northern Ireland all by knockout.
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The 26-year-old champion hopes to fight big name boxers, including Naoya Inoue, who is reported to be moving up to his bantamweight division. He said Inoue is his number one dream opponent because he is the best. But, Ancajas must surmount Gonzalez first and make some big news on his debut in the US. For Jerwin it is a very important fight because it will be his first fight in America. According to Ancajas, ?People in America have a different way of choosing a boxer to follow so I have to impress them with a win!"
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Promoter Dean Lonergan is confident that his boxer will not be affected if Jeff Horn will be greeted by a plenty of catcalls at the Madison Square Garden on April 14. Horn is ready for a hostile reception when he defends his WBO welterweight championship against mandatory challenger Terence Crawford in the 29-year-old Queenslander's first career fight outside Oceania.
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"Every fighter that comes in to fight Jeff Horn says the same thing - he's not that good, I'm going to beat him, I'm going to do this," Lonergan said. "Well, no one has managed to silence him yet and I don't think Terence Crawford can do it either. He ain't no superman. I don't think Terence Crawford is going to be happy with the outcome of this fight and he's going to regret coming up a weight division."
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Abner Mares, the WBA "regular" featherweight champion, gave his predictions for two of the most awaited fights in the featherweight division, the one between Carl Frampton and Nonito Donaire, and the tentative showdown between Oscar Valdez and Scott Quigg possibly in the first half of 2018. He chose Valdez and Frampton as the most likely victors of the said matches, but the wins would not be that easy.
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"Oscar Valdez and Frampton should win their fights, but that doesn?t mean they will be easy outings given their opponent?s experience. Quigg is a great fighter who's been in several good fight and keeps going," said Mares. "In the case of Nonito, what can I say, he is a fighter with ups and downs but he is trying to establish himself and rise to the elite category and he can achieve it by defeating Frampton. They should not be overconfident."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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