TWO of our top-tier fighters fell by the wayside over the weekend, losing their bouts fought in foreign soil. First to go was Brian Viloria who lost via split decision to Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico.
The following evening with Viloria watching ringside, former world champion Malcolm Tu?acao was stopped in 12 rounds by Japanese Shinsuki Yamanaka.
The bull-strong Japanese nearly masticated ?Eagle-Eye? early in the fight with two early knockdowns, but Tunacao recovered well enough to make things interesting in the middle rounds. However, Yamanaka was undeterred and he earned the stoppage win with less than a minute to go in the fight.
Tunacao fell to now 32-3, 20Kos, while Yamanaka remains unbeaten in 18 bouts with 13 via the short route.
VILORIA. ?The Hawaiian Punch? started out strong, but was outworked by the younger Estrada down the stretch. The setback was a painful one for Viloria who was heavily favored to retain his WBA and WBA flyweight diadems.
The unheralded Estrada was moving up in weight and coming off an unsuccessful attempt to wrest the WBA junior flyweight diadem from Roman Gonzales.
Viloria had hoped to defend his belts so he could parlay that into a unification matchup with WBC counterpart Japanese champ Tokuyushi Igarashi.
As it turned out, kiss that fight goodbye as Igarashi also lost to Aekira Yaegashi in the same card where Tu?acao lost.
STAMINA. Viloria built an early lead in the fight as he boxed well and kept Estrada at bay behind his jab. He also cracked him with several hard right hands. The resilient Estrada came on strong in the middle rounds, aided by some dirty infighting that had him caching Viloria low on several occasions.
Estrada also unleashed some good bodywork that eventually sapped Viloria?s stamina going into the championship rounds.
Viloria?s Achilles heel has always been his tendency to get enervated easily and once again, he gave away the crucial last rounds to Estrada who was the stronger, busier fighter down the stretch.
A fighter?s accuracy and timing suffers when he gets tired and so a spent Viloria was consistently beaten to the punch by the obdurate Mexican.
Youth was served in that fight with the 22-year-old Estrada showing remarkable recuperative powers despite being tagged by Viloria who is known for his vaunted knockout power.
It?s not the end of the road for Viloria who later admitted he fought the wrong fight, style-wise. If he can find a way to remedy his predictable late game-fade, a rematch could be interesting.
However, Milan Melindo would probably have something to say about that.
MILAN MELINDO. Milan Melindo (29-0, 12KOs) provided a bright spot on that gloomy weekend as he demonstrated his readiness for a world title fight by stopping Indonesian Tommy Seran (23-2, 14Kos) in 4 rounds.
The impressive manner in which Milan won was exactly the statement ALA promotions needed in getting some traction behind that long awaited shot at the championship belt.
Milan played the role to the hilt by immediately issuing the challenge to Estrada after the fight.
The fight has reportedly been finalized already, buoyed by the successful fight card which heralded Macau?s entry as a viable and alternative venue to Las Vegas.
Milan vs. Estrada would be a barnburner as their incendia ry styles seem to complement each other. Milan likes to wait for openings so he can counter-punch and unleash his vaunted uppercuts while Estrada keeps a busy work-rate which translates to an action-packed fight.
Here?s hoping we can get that in Macau as a main supporting bout for Manny Pacquiao?s comeback fight.
LAST ROUND. It?s on Atty. Ramon ?Monching? Quijano who is in town for a short visit, all the way from Anaheim, CA. Cheers!
VILORIA?S LOSS IS MILAN?S GAIN (suggested title)
Two of our top-tier fighters fell by the wayside over the weekend, losing their bouts fought in foreign soil. First to go was Brian Viloria who lost via split decision to Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico.
The following evening with Viloria watching ringside, former world champion Malcolm Tu?acao was stopped in 12 rounds by Japanese Shinsuki Yamanaka.
The bull-strong Japanese nearly masticated ?Eagle-Eye? early in the fight with two early knockdowns but Tu?acao recovered well enough to make things interesting in the middle rounds. However, Yamanaka was undeterred and he earned the stoppage win with less than a minute to go in the fight.
Tu?acao fell to now 32-3, 20KOs while Yamanaka remains unbeaten in 18 bouts with 13 via the short route.
VILORIA. ?The Hawaiian Punch? started out strong but was outworked by the younger Estrada down the stretch. The setback was a painful one for Viloria who was heavily favored to retain his WBA and WBA flyweight diadems.
The unheralded Estrada was moving up in weight and coming off an unsuccessful attempt to wrest the WBA junior flyweight diadem from Roman Gonzales.
Viloria had hoped to defend his belts so he could parlay that into a unification matchup with WBC counterpart Japanese champ Tokuyushi Igarashi.
As it turned out, kiss that fight goodbye as Igarashi also lost to Aekira Yaegashi in the same card where Tunacao lost.
STAMINA. Viloria built an early lead in the fight as he boxed well and kept Estrada at bay behind his jab. He also cracked him with several hard right hands. The resilient Estrada came on strong in the middle rounds, aided by some dirty infighting that had him caching Viloria low on several occasions.
Estrada also unleashed some good bodywork that eventually sapped Viloria?s stamina going into the championship rounds.
Viloria?s Achilles heel has always been his tendency to get enervated easily and once again, he gave away the crucial last rounds to Estrada who was the stronger, busier fighter down the stretch.
A fighter?s accuracy and timing suffers when he gets tired and so a spent Viloria was consistently beaten to the punch by the obdurate Mexican.
Youth was served in that fight with the 22-year-old Estrada showing remarkable recuperative powers despite being tagged by Viloria who is known for his vaunted knockout power.
It?s not the end of the road for Viloria who later admitted he fought the wrong fight, style-wise. If he can find a way to remedy his predictable late game-fade, a rematch could be interesting.
However, Milan Melindo would probably have something to say about that.
MILAN MELINDO. Milan Melindo (29-0, 12KOs) provided a bright spot on that gloomy weekend as he demonstrated his readiness for a world title fight by stopping Indonesian Tommy Seran (23-2, 14Kos) in 4 rounds.
The impressive manner in which Milan won was exactly the statement ALA promotions needed in getting some traction behind that long awaited shot at the championship belt.
Milan played the role to the hilt by immediately issuing the challenge to Estrada after the fight.
The fight has reportedly been finalized already, buoyed by the successful fight card which heralded Macau?s entry as a viable and alternative venue to Las Vegas.
Milan vs. Estrada would be a barnburner as their incendia ry styles seem to complement each other. Milan likes to wait for openings so he can counter-punch and unleash his vaunted uppercuts while Estrada keeps a busy work-rate which translates to an action-packed fight.
Here?s hoping we can get that in Macau as a main supporting bout for Manny Pacquiao?s comeback fight.
LAST ROUND. It?s on Atty. Ramon ?Monching? Quijano who is in town for a short visit, all the way from Anaheim, CA. Cheers!
