VILORIA CONQUEROR TAMARA LOSES IBF LIGHT FLYWEIGHT TITLE TO LAZARTE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 30 May 2010
Carlos Tamara.
IBF flyweight champion Carlos ?El Olimpico? Tamara who won the title with a stunning 12th round TKO over Brian Viloria last December at the Cuneta Astrodome when exhaustion got the better of Viloria, has lost his title to Luis Alberto ?El Mosquito? Lazarte in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina by a unanimous decision.
Tamara had turned down an offer to fight multi-titled WBC Youth Intercontinental flyweight champion Milan Melindo (20-0, 5 KO?s) after he apparently received a better offer for an optional title defense in Buenos Aires against a seemingly easier opponent in the 39 year old Lazarte of Argentina who has a record of 46-9-1 with 18 knockouts.
In fact we learned that Tamara was keen on returning to the Philippines to defend his title against Melindo because of the wonderful manner in which he was treated when he was in Manila for the title fight against then champion Viloria on a Solar Sports promotion. Tamara was reportedly elated over the fact that he was not subjected to a hometown decision and that internationally respected referee Bruce McTavish called it fairly when he stopped the fight with 1:45 to go in the final round although Viloria was well ahead on points.
A report from Argentina said Lazarte won by a split decision in his fifth attempt to win a world title. Two of the judges scored the fight for Lazarte 115-113 and 116-112 while the third judge had it for Tamara 115-113. The fight report said it was not a hometown decision and Lazarte clearly won the fight.
Lazarte was rated No. 7 by the IBF and has had six straight wins after dropping a majority decision to Daniel Reyes on a WBO interim title fight on September 26, 2008. In his last fight Lazarte won a ten round unanimous decision over Raul Eliseo Medina on January 23 this year.
Tamara suffered a cut due to an accidental head-butt in the opening round as the 5 feet tall Argentine rushed in against the taller 5?5? Tamara who was clearly affected by the cut allowing the smaller Lazarte to score with overhand rights as he kept pressuring Tamara.
Tamara used his height to advantage in the succeeding rounds but the aggressive Lazarte continued to work inside and a left hook sent Tamara stumbling in round four even as the Argentine continued to catch the champion with overhand rights and left hooks.
Tamara switched to a southpaw stance which is something he also did against Viloria and it seemed to work as he out-boxed Lazarte but the little challenger came storming back in the seventh round as he continued to work inside. Lazarte maintained the pressure in round eight as Tamara backed off Although Tamara, realizing the title was slipping away started strong in round nine it was Lazarte who ended with a flurry.
Lazarte showing no signs of his age, dominated round ten and sensing he was on the verge of victory came charging out of his corner in the penultimate round, drove Tamara against the ropes and continued to work the body and head with his combinations.
In the final round Tamara went all out and connected with some good shots but Lazarte ended with a flurry to win the nod of two of the three judges in a fight card promoted by Osvaldo Rivero.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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