By Rene Bonsubre, Jr., PhilBoxing.com
“I told him, “Remember your two little daughters in Colombia. Dig down inside. Do you want to go home and hear your kids call you champion?” “ – this was the reply of trainer Butch Sanchez when I asked him during the post fight press conference as to how he motivated and pushed his boxer, Carlos “El Olimpico” Tamara, to continue fighting despite being way behind on points.
Sanchez, who also acted as interpreter, said that Tamara’s daughters were his motivation to succeed in winning the IBF jr.flyweight world title from Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria before thousands of partisan Filipino fans at the Cuneta Astrodome.
“We never had a doubt of winning from day one.” Sanchez said.
But prior to the fight, most if not all, Filipino sportswriters never gave them a chance, publicly or privately. Viloria was riding the crest of a Hawaiian wave after winning the IBF title by 11th round knockout over Mexico’s Ulises Solis last April and defending it successfully in Honolulu against Jesus Iribe.
Tamara was a stranger to Filipino boxing aficionados. He even had trouble making the 108 lb weight limit. In the opening round, Viloria used jabs to redden the challenger’s nose. Tamara’s jab and two combinations seemed ineffective as Viloria repeatedly landed powerful hooks and right straights. This was the trend in the first three rounds.
In the fourth, they traded wicked uppercuts and hooks in a scintillating display of infighting. Viloria’s body shots pushed Tamara back then transferred his attack to the head.
Victory seemed to be a matter of time for Viloria.
How did the Tamara corner adjust?
“We used lateral movement to make Viloria tired. We made him miss.” Sanchez said.
But in the sixth round, Tamara’s face was already swollen. But he was still standing. In the seventh, more power shots came from Viloria.
In the eighth, Tamara kept punching but Viloria pinned him to the red corner and landed a series of shots. Tamara survived the onslaught and continued to fight.
The tide turned in the 9th round as Tamara got surprisingly stronger and pinned Viloria on the ropes. Viloria was visibly faded in the 10th and Tamara landed at will.
The crowd tried to push Viloria on by chanting his name. Viloria started the 11th swinging a left hook but Tamara continued to inflict hair raising punishment. Viloria was standing on wobbly legs and gasping for air.
In the 12th and final round, Viloria was bleeding from the corner of his left eyebrow and was pinned helpless on the ropes unable to defend himself from Tamara’s punches prompting referee Bruce McTavish to stop the fight at the 1:45 second mark.
“I’m a hungry fighter. I attribute this victory to being hungry.” Tamara said during the press conference. “During the late rounds, I noticed he was tired. When he missed, I jumped on top of him. Viloria is strong, I felt his power but I’m hungry and I want to win.”
Viloria did not attend the presscon as he was brought to a hospital for observation. Team Tamara plans to check on him to see if he is okay.
Sanchez said there was no rematch clause in their contract. Tamara also thanked the Filipinos for their hospitality and said he wants to fight WBO champ Ivan Calderon.
Post fight reports state that Viloria is stable.
Source: philboxing.com
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