Explosive and entertaining fights

Explosive and entertaining are the words to describe the performance of both US-based, newly crowned IBF light flyweight titlist, Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria, and IBF flyweight king, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, Sunday morning at the Araneta Coliseum in fights shown by Pay-Per-View in the US Saturday night.

Viloria’s right hand to Mexican defending champion Ulises “Archie” Solis’s chin stopped the latter dead on his tracks. Solis was counted out in 2:56 of the eleventh round by New Zealander referee Bruce McTavish. The defeat, regarded as an upset by boxing pundits, considering Viloria’s ninth rank in the roster of contenders to Solis, ended at eight the Mexican’s run of successful title defenses.

Viloria, 28, and originally from the Ilocos, got a big boost from the huge highly-partisan crowd at the Big Dome that included, among others, former President Joseph Estrada, Sen.Mar Roxas, San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito and former Senate President Franklin Drilon. Viloria, former WBC light flyweight champion whose record of 27 fights includes 25 wins, 15 of them by knockout, dropped the durable and bloodied Solis (28-2-2, 20 KOs) for good with a picture perfect right as the two traded blows in the middle of the ring and just, as it seemed, the fading Viloria was trying to recover lost ground. Solis had been quite accurate in his body punches that no doubt slowed Viloria down.

I had Viloria slightly ahead, 98-96, (without the two-point deduction against Solis for landing low blows in the third and fifth rounds) at the start of the 10th round after dominating the first two rounds and the fourth and fifth. With Solis constantly applying the pressure despite cuts he sustained over both eyes, Viloria seemed to fade going into the late rounds, as he was wont to do in previous fights. The scuttlebutt was Viloria had lost the fire to approach his craft with single-minded determination especially after successive losses to Omar Nino Romero and Edgar Sosa. Viloria had fought five times last year and seemed to be well on his way to reviving his career.

Before stepping into the ring Sunday, Solis had defeated three Filipino fighters, Rodel Mayol, Bert Batawang and Donaire’s older brother, Glenn. Despite the loss, Solis, who definitely has the heart of a champion, is expected to continue figuring prominently in one of the lightest divisions of boxing.

In sharp contrast to the Viloria-Solis tussle, the Donaire-Raul Martinez fight was a mismatch although there was a few times that the undefeated and muscle-bound Martinez hit Donaire with some decent punches. Donaire floored Martinez twice in the first round with that razor-sharp and powerful left hook (that at times looked like an uppercut), once in the second round and finally, again with a left, in the fourth round. Referee Pete Podgorski who saw at very close range the punishment inflicted on the amiable Martinez stopped the fight at 2:46 of the fourth although some people felt that Martinez still had some fight left in him. Personally, I thought Podgorski did right in ending the carnage.

Happily, Donaire has decided to move up to the 118-pound bantamweight division. At 5’6” and 112 pounds, the 26-year-old resident of San Leandro, California, is too tall and too thin as a flyweight. Donaire, who hails from Bohol and Gen. Santos, has now won six fights in a row by knockout and is destined for bigger things in the slightly heavier divisions which American audiences prefer. As a bantamweight, expect Donaire to pack even more power and less pressured to trim down to 112.

For his part, Martinez, who had knocked out Victor Proa in November last year in Philadelphia prior to the Donaire fight, will need to think carefully about his boxing career after the terrible beating he absorbed from Donaire. Martinez had campaigned in heavier divisions and agreed to go down a couple of pounds, unable to resist the opportunity of his first crack at a world title.

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Our column on training tips from Kenya on distance and marathon running has drawn varied reactions from a number of readers. One such reaction came from the well-read and former Asian Gamer and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Perry Mequi who forwarded to me the article “Training Secrets of the Kenyan Runners” from the Sports Performance Bulletin. Contrary to what Linus Gitahi has stated, “Kenyans go out the blocks fast! Elite Kenyans are renowned for starting their races at incredible speeds, daring other runners to try and stay with them. This seems particularly true in cross country, a sport in which the Kenyans go out so fast that the possible winners and also-rans are separated from each other within the first 800 meters of the race.”