VILORIA MOTIVATED BY FAILURE TO BE NAMED PSA CO-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 12 Feb 2013
WBO/WBA flyweight champion Brian Viloria is training hard for his title defense against Mexican challenger Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico in a blockbuster Top Rank fight card in Macau on April 6, driven by the fact that he was not honored as a co-?Athlete of the Year? by the Philippine Sportswriters Association.
Viloria told the Manila Standard that not being named a co-winner of the ?Athlete of the Year? award by the Philippine Sportswriters Association for the second consecutive year will be ?something to motivate me? in the fight against Estrada and added ?maybe I just need to prove them more because they haven?t given me credit for my achievements.?
The WBO champion who added the WBA 112 pound title in an action-packed fight against Mexico?s power-punching Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez with a 10th round TKO at the Los Angeles Sports Arena last November 17 felt ?I haven?t really been given the credit which maybe deserved, maybe not.?
While stating it would be an honor to be named ?Athlete of the Year? Viloria vowed to ?keep performing like I?ve done in the past couple of years and hope that one of these days they will consider me.?
Looking ahead to his title defense against the 22 year old Estrada who is ten years younger and has a record of 22-2 with 18 knockouts, Viloria said he expects ?a tough fight and would ?need to be ready and better come in shape and be ready for a tough opponent.?
Estrada was featured on the same card when Viloria scored a spectacular win over Marquez and although Estrada dropped a unanimous twelve round decision to undefeated Roman ?Chocolatito? Gonazelz he gave the Nicaraguan WBA minimum weight champion a hard fight.
Viloria has a record of 32-3 with 19 knockouts and had two impressive wins last year following a sensational 8th round TKO over menacing Giovanni Segura who was ranked No. 8 in the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings on December 11, 2011.
He avenged a controversial series of losses to Mexico?s Omar Nino Romero with a 9th round TKO on May 13, 2012 and followed it up with the win over Marquez to grab the WBA title.
The Macau fight card will be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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