Another toast to the Hawaiian Punch
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 17 Jul 2011
For twelve rounds, Brian Viloria and Julio Cesar Miranda were tested. The punches that landed were questions whose answers required resiliency and courage. Viloria immediately sent a message in the first round that he meant business by knocking down Miranda with a counter hook. Miranda fought back but Viloria used his lateral movement to avoid Miranda's power shots. Viloria took an early lead relying on his hand speed and punch accuracy.
But Miranda continued to pressure and landed hard punches to the body and head going into the middle rounds. Viloria and Miranda traded shot for shot until Miranda was ready for the taking in the seventh round.
But the Miranda recuperated and came back for more. Mexico has a fine tradition of producing great warriors and Miranda is no exception. There would be more similar rounds, one fighter got hurt and then fired back and vice versa.
It became a grinding and draining contest as the rounds progressed. Viloria moved less and chose to counter Miranda's shots while on a stationary posture. Miranda sensed he was falling behind and stepped up his body attack. Viloria was hanging by a thread in the 10th but regained the power in his legs and once again resorted to lateral movement in the 11th and 12th rounds.
There would be no repeat of the drama of the Ulises Solis fight; there would be no dramatic late knockout for Viloria but there would be no endgame collapse either. Surely, the Carlos Tamara fight at the Cuneta Astrodome entered his mind going into the last two rounds. But Viloria finished the fight on his feet as Miranda failed to land a big punch to turn the fight around. Viloria was announced the winner by unanimous decision. The announced scores of the three judges ? 98-91, 96-93 and 97-93- were a bit strange considering that this was a twelve rounder.
Our friends at boxrec posted the corrected scores - 117-110,114-113 and 115-113.
The 31 year old Miranda drops to 35W-6L-1D, 28 KO?s while Viloria improves to 28W-3L, 16 KO?s. The Hawaiian Punch found his redemption in front of his hometown fans at the Blaisdell Center.
The 30 year old Viloria, who traces his roots to the Ilocos Region, is now the sixth Filipino to win world titles in at least two different weight divisions after Dodie Boy Penalosa, Luisito Espinosa, Gerry Penalosa, Nonito Donaire and Manny Pacquiao.
Two Pinoys won in the undercards, Denver ?The Excitement? Cuello won by TKO in the second round over Omar Soto of Puerto Rico. Cuello scored several knockdowns in a one-sided contest. Michael Farenas was bloodied and struggled in a close fight but won a hard earned decision after eight rounds over Fernando Beltran of Mexico.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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