LOS ANGELES: Hours before Manny Pacquiao pounded Hector Velazquez into submission in the “Double Trouble” fight card on Saturday, fellow Filipinos Brian Viloria and Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista made sure it would be a night to remember for their countrymen at the Staples Center here.
Viloria, born and raised in Hawaii to migrant Filipino parents, knocked out defending champion Eric Ortiz of Mexico in the first round to win the World Boxing Council light flyweight championship.
In the opener of the seven-fight show, unbeaten Bautista stopped Felix Flores-Murillo in the third round in a mismatch of a bantamweight fight, improving his record to 17-0 with 13 knockouts.
A right hand by “Boom Boom” put Flores-Murillo (13-6-1, 11 KOs) at 1 minute, 12 seconds of round 3. The hard-hitting Bautista staggered Flores in round 2, then finished him off the following round.
Viloria was fighting for the first time since May, when Ruben Contreras quit in the sixth round and had a seizure soon after. Contreras accepted Viloria’s invitation to attend Saturday’s fight and sat ringside.
Viloria and Ortiz had a few brief exchanges in the first round, but neither was especially aggressive and both looked to be settling in for a long fight.
But Viloria connected with a pair of right hands and floored Ortiz in the final second. Ortiz did not get up until well after the bell.
“Everything just happened so quickly,” Viloria said. “The fight with Contreras lit a fire inside of me. I dedicate this fight to Ruben Contreras.”
In their May 28 bout, Contreras quit, complaining of a headache. He had a seizure less than 10 minutes later and needed surgery to stop a hemorrhage around his brain. The 32-year-old flyweight from Caudal Juarez, Mexico, was in a weeks-long coma but has made significant progress.
He and Viloria embraced one another and posed for pictures after the fight.
The 24-year-old Viloria, a former US Olympian, improved to 18-0 with 12 knockouts, and Ortiz dropped to 24-5-1 with 16 KOs. Both fighters weighed 108 pounds (48.6 kilograms).
Meanwhile, Pacquiao, who gained the World Boxing Council (WBC) International super featherweight title by beating Velazquez, will soon start preparing for his anticipated rematch with Erik Morales on January, his trainer Freddie Roach said.
“We chose this opponent [Velazquez] because he has a style similar to Morales’,” said Roach before Pacquiao’s fight.
The American tactician admitted that Pacquiao must get used to Morales’ style solid punches and willingness to fight toe-to-toe.
“I think this fight will definitely help prepare him for the next fight,” he said.
The rematch, which will be on Home Box Office pay-per-view, is set on January 21 at a soon to be determined venue, according to promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc.
Morales lost the main event of the “Double Trouble” card when he dropped a unanimous decision to Zahir Raheem in a 12-round WBC lightweight bout. It was only the third loss for “El Terible” against 48 wins but the first time he had lost to anyone other than Marco Antonio Barrera, who beat him in 2002 and ’04 for the WBC 130-pound crown.
