VILORIA TO ANNOUNCE HIS FUTURE PLANS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 28 Jan 2010
Now that he has been given a clean bill of health by the specialists who attended to him at the Medical Center in a final check-up Wednesday, former two-time world light flyweight champion Brian Viloria plans to return to the US with his girlfriend Erika Navarro on Sunday.
But before that Viloria plans to meet with a select group from Philippine media to announce his plans regarding his future boxing career.
International referee Bruce McTavish who stopped the IBF title fight at 1:45 in the twelfth and final round when Viloria was totally exhausted and absorbing too many punches from Colombia’s Carlos Tamara was joined by Australia’s multi-titled “Promoter of the Year” Peter Maniatis and Manny Pacquiao’s first trainer Rick Stehely in praising Viloria’s desire go give fight fans an action-packed bout for which he ultimately paid the price.
McTavish said he believes the decision on his future is all up to Viloria himself but added that Viloria “is surrounded by great people who make a perfect team” that cushioned the impact of his loss and having to be rushed to hospital and will surely standby whatever decision he makes on his future.
McTavish said there is “the honesty and sincerity in management (referring to Gary Gittelsohn), the lovely young lady (Erika Navarro) whom he is going to marry and Brian who is a fine person himself.”
The referee said “I still think if he (Viloria) paced himself he could have won the fight easy instead of going for the knockout.”
McTavish recalled that Viloria went through a depressing stage when he lost the WBC title which he had won with a sensational first round knockout over Eric Ortiz, then he made a comeback and got out of it and now this is another setback. McTavish noted that “psychologically his main problem is going to be mental. He can fight this mentally if he decides he wants to fight and he’s an astute young gentleman that if he wants to fight he’s just got to overcome the mental inhibitions he’s got right now.”
Stehely shared McTavish’s view that “if Viloria hung on and stayed on his feet he would have won the fight” because Stehely said that at the end of nine rounds he had Viloria leading 7 rounds to 2 or maybe 6 rounds to 3 “but he basically ran out of gas.”
The man who trained pound-for-pound icon Manny Pacquiao when he won his first world title – the WBC flyweight crown with a smashing 8th round knockout over Thai hero Chatchai Sasakul in December 1998 in Thailand said it’s hard to say what Viloria should do “because I don’t know how he feels right now physically. He is definitely got to be hurting. He was drained physically after that fight.”
Stehely said “I still think he’s got ability and if he’s still hungry and he’s determined I think he can come back and I actually think he can win another world title.”
The trainer commended Viloria saying “he put his heart on the line for that fight and he didn’t want to quit which showed a lot of good characteristics but the question is what did it do to his mental psyche.”
He said that Viloria can “look beyond boxing because a TV commentator would be a second great career for him. He’s got opportunities that most fighters don’t have so he does have some opportunities. But its one of those things that when you look back you say I wish I stayed another year or two. He’s got some important decisions to make.”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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