VILORIA IN MOST IMPORTANT FIGHT SO FAR
Hillsborough, CA-This Thursday, OLN (Outdoor Life Network) will televisde live boxing action featuring WBC light flyweight champion Brian Viloria. The “Hawaiian Punch” is set to make his second defense against a very experienced challenger, Omar Romero. Fighting mostly on under cards, and in the shadows of others, most notably, Manny Pacquiao, this action packed Filipino-American will be the main event tonight on OLN, a network that has televised National Hockey League games.
HBO VIEWERS DIDN’T SEE MUCH OF VILORIA
Unfortunately for Viloria, his spectacular knockout victory against Eric Ortiz, winning the belt he now owns, was not shown live on HBO, only a snippet. His fight was on the same card as the “Double Trouble” show, headlined by Zahir Raheem’s boxing lesson on Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao’s comeback win against Hector Velazquez. Although the knockout was shown all over the Philippines and as a highlight package in the U.S in between rounds five and six of the Pacquiao-Velasquez bout, it didn’t have the impact on the boxing fan base, especially with Filipino-Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, like when Pacquiao first burst on the scene.
“SUPER V” NEEDS TO WIN BIG IN THIS SPOT!
After that September 10th title victory, Viloria was on another undercard, this time in a PPV show, featuring WBO welterweight titlist, Antonio Margarito. Reportedly, the show did around 100,000 buys, although most casual boxing fights did not know Viloria was even on the card. In that bout against former champion Jose Antonio Aguirre, Viloria looked sluggish, winning a twelve round decision. Brian did fracture his right hand in the third, which could have led to his being somewhat passive. However, this time, he’ll be on cable television and Viloria will need to make the audience want to see him again.
LOTS OF GUYS AT FLY, BUT WHO’S THE BEST?
With a lot of big names at the very lower weight classes, like Ivan Calderon, Jorge Arce, and Martin Castillo, there’s a lot of money for all the fighters to make if they can draw the fan base to sell out an arena. Arce is already a star in Mexico and should Viloria have similar popularity (in which tonight’s fight will play a role) to Arce, the two sluggers could be on a collision course to a bout similar to Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales. His opponent, Romero, appears to be the perfect foil for Viloria to have a breakout performance, demanding the fans’ attention.
GABI GETS AN “EASY” MARK TONIGHT!
Those who plan on attending the fight live at the Orleans Casino will get to see former title challenger, Diosdado Gabi take on an unknown Mexican fighter, Jose Cruz. Many remember Gabi’s valiant effort to wrestle away the IBF flyweight title from Vic Darchinyan. Gabi, 26-3-1 (18 KOs), did have some early success, but eventually the bigger man scored a devastating one-punch stoppage in the eighth round.
VANES ON THE RAHMAN-MASKAEV PPV CARD
Although the Hasim Rahman-Oleg Maskaev PPV card doesn’t look appetizing for Filipino fans since Bobby Pacquiao dropped out of his bout against WBC interim champion Humberto Soto, there may be one bright spot as Vanes Martirosyan will make his television debut on the undercard. Training under Freddie Roach since turning pro, I’ve seen a couple of Martirosyan’s bouts, and this super welterweight looks like a real blue chip prospect. Add to that, he has a large Armenian fan base in the Glendale area of Southern California. Don’t be surprised if the viewers hear a loud response for Vanes. Martirosyan, undefeated with nine wins (six by knockout) will take on Marcus Brooks, 6-1 (3 KOs).
