BRIAN VILORIA SHOULD GIVE UP WBO TITLE AND ALLOW A FELLOW FILIPINO TO WIN IT
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 20 Nov 2012
Melindo and Saludar.
It is easily said than done, giving up a title one worked so hard for.
But for Brian Viloria doing exactly that will surely endear him more to the Filipino fans. In addition, he may gain far more respect from them for his magnanimity.
Reports indicate that the WBO has obliged Viloria to fight his mandatory No. 1 challenger, Milan Melindo. Apparently, the WBO decided that the winner between Viloria and Marquez must fight Melindo during the WBO Convention held in Florida last month.
That really should be no problem.
But Melindo, just like Viloria is a Filipino. He is from the famed ALA Gym in Cebu.
Defending against a fellow Filipino does not seem to be such a good idea.
For one finding non-Filipino sponsors to pay the hard cold cash maybe a problem. The fact that the fight will be in the smaller weight division does not help either.
This is not to say that ALA Promotions and Solar Sports can not come up with the money. But if they can save some cash along the way and still involve Melindo that would be far better.
Team Viloria should think hard and deep and consider giving up the WBO title. They can keep the WBA title recently snatched from Hernan Tyson Marquez and defend it against the Nicaraguan junior lightweight sensation, Roman ?Chocolatito? Gonzalez. The Nicaraguan scored a sensational win over Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico on the Viloria-Marquez undercard in a fight that can easily be a ?fight of the year?.
It would not take an Einstein to know that fighting Gonzales or unifying the flyweight title against the WBC champion Toshiyaki Igarashi or IBF champion Moruti Mthalane in the USA will mean more money in the till than fighting Melindo in the Philippines.
With the title relinquished by Viloria, the WBO can mandate that the top two contenders fight for the title.
It so happens that those two are both Filipinos, Milan Melindo who is no 1. and Froilan Saludar who is no. 2.
Now how can it get better than that?
It?s a win-win situation.
Most importantly, it would not be much of a financial burden for the promoters as none of the fighters is a champion, thus they would not command a ?champion?s purse?.
With that, the fight would be easy to make and it can be done in the Philippines, either on Manila or Cebu.
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