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Determined Carlos Tamara No Easy Task for Viloria By Ryan Songalia PhilBoxing.com Fri, 22 Jan 2010  It would be a stretch to say that Carlos Tamara is a well-known figure in boxing. While his name may not strike a chord with boxing fans, many insiders believe Tamara will give IBF light flyweight champion Viloria all he can handle on January 23 at the Cuneta Astrodome in Metro Manila, Philippines. Tamara, 20-4 (14 KO), brings a lot of class if not much name recognition. As an amateur Tamara represented his native Colombia in the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, making it to the second round before dropping a decision to an Italian counterpart. He won a silver medal in the Santo Domingo Pan American games in 2003, losing to Cuban Olympic gold medalist Yan Barthelemy in the finals. His professional credentials have been less consistent, however. Wins over Juan Esquer and Alejandro Hernandez, who gave former 115 pound titlist Marvin Sonsona all he could handle in a draw this past November, have been coupled with losses to Gerardo Verde, Rayonta Whitfield, Giovanni Segura and Omar Narvaez in his only other title opportunity. Tamara's camp dispute the Whitfield and Segura decisions vehemently. Tamara is laudatory of his adversary, who is in his second reign as champion in the weight class. "Brian Viloria is one of the best 108 pounders in the world and that's why I want to fight him." Tamara's trainers, Edgar "Butch" Sanchez and Angel "Ping Ping" DeJesus, take a different perspective on the Waipahu, HI native. They feel that Viloria is not the same fighter he was just a few years earlier. Sanchez goes as far as to call the 2000 Olympian a "has-been". "The first thing that deteriorates is your punch output," says Sanchez. "You're more defensive because you're thinking more about getting hit. Your reflexes are not there and that's what you see from a deteriorated fighter. "I think he's a motivated has-been and a motivated has-been is a very dangerous guy. That's why in this camp with Tamara we left no stone unturned. We trained for the best possible Viloria. We actually went back into time and studied the Viloria that looked the best." The one thing that they are worried about is Viloria's punching power. His right hand, regarded as the single most dangerous weapon in those divisions, was the deciding factor in his two world title winning outings against Eric Ortiz in 2005 and Ulises Solis last April. Still, Sanchez says he believes current titlist Segura, who beat Tamara on a decision in 2006, is the biggest puncher they have faced to date. For this camp, Tamara has sparred with a bevy of local talent including Carlos Zambrano and New York amateur star Raul Lopez at the Bergen County PAL Gym in Hackensack, NJ. Tamara traveled with Zambrano to California where he sparred with Leo Santa Cruz, a 12-0 bantamweight prospect that has sparred with Viloria in the past. Ironically, Santa Cruz is sometimes trained by Roberto Garcia, the trainer of Viloria. "[Tamara is] a very good boxer," said Garcia, a former world champion in his own right. "He's a little bit taller than Brian and fights on the outside and has strength in his punches." Extended Inactivity This opportunity comes 18 months after the 26-year-old Tamara rose to the number two ranking in the sanctioning body after defeating Esquer for three minor belts in Miami. After that, Tamara's world fell apart. Tamara was embroiled in a feud with former manager Antonio Gonzalez that kept him out of the ring for the next 14 months. According to Tamara's new manager Nelson Fernandez, his contract had expired two months prior to facing Esquer in June of 2008. He claims Tamara sought to extricate himself from Gonzalez's management and found himself blacklisted as a result. "The manager insisted that he had a contract and every time a promoter would offer us a fight he would call the promoter and say, 'I have the contract.' The promoters would call me and say 'He wouldn't lie to us about this.' His former manager was playing games with all the promoters we were trying to use." Gonzalez, who also manages Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis, claims he never tried to blacklist Tamara, though he had considered it. Gonzalez says his falling out with Tamara is largely due to him revoking Tamara's athlete and entertainers visa after he took an odd job at a car wash in Miami to supplement his boxing earnings. He claims that the violation of his visa would put his license to practice law in Florida at risk. "He was working odd jobs outside of boxing which put me at risk. Basically, by him doing that he's breaking the law and I obviously can't partake in that. I can't put my license at risk because you want to work in a car wash. If he gets caught, it's my name on the line." Gonzalez says the contract dispute is still in litigation. Unable to fight, Tamara was broke and on the streets. That's when he made the desperate call that would take him out of Florida. Tamara, who had been training in New Jersey with Sanchez and DeJesus, contacted Fernandez and explained his plight. Fernandez remembers: "We get a call from him in June 2008 and he said 'Listen, I have no money, no apartment. I don't have a job. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna sleep under a bridge here in Florida.' "We said, 'No you're not, you're gonna come here.' Butch offered him his home and he stayed with Butch for a while. We did this not because he's a good fighter, but because he's a man and a human being." Tamara admits that there were tough times in Miami but says he'd rather not comment on the situation involving his former manager. He does say that he is "grateful" for the opportunity to come to America that Gonzalez gave him. Opportunity of a Lifetime The inactivity dropped Tamara from number two to number seven in the rankings. He received mandatory consideration only after #4 contender Omar Nino Romero failed to come to terms with Viloria's team. Tamara has won two fights against non-descript opponents with losing records since the layoff and will be leaping precipitously in his recent class. The odds, which are created by men, are favoring the champion. The challenger, undeterred, points to his two daughters and the reminders of a hard road to this point as motivating factors compelling him towards the performance of his life. "That's the main reason I'm involved with boxing, they mean the world to me. That's why I have to make the best of this opportunity because I have my two daughters depending on me becoming world champ so I can change their lives. "All the trials and tribulations I've endured have prepared me to be a world champion. "I know we're going to be an underdog in this fight and that's how we want to be."-RS Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at songaliaboxing@aol.com . Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ryan Songalia.  |
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