Former two-division, three time world champion Brian Viloria lost his WBO and WBA flyweight world titles in a gallant slam-bang battle with Mexican warrior Juan Francisco Estrada at the fabulous Cotai Arena of the luxurious Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau, China late Saturday.
Estrada who amazingly appeared to get stronger as the fight wore on and continued to throw big shots until the end, won a split decision which in itself appeared questionable in the face of Estrada’s relentless punching in the second half of the fight.
There were those who questioned judge Levi Martinez 115-113 scorecard in favor of Viloria as against the 116-111 card of Michael Pernick and 117-111 of Francisco Martinez.
When it was all over, the large crowd of Filipinos who, up to that point had cheered themselves hoarse following the smashing knockout victories of world No.1 ranked Milan Melindo from the famed ALA Promotions and the young Penalosa brothers, Dave and Dodie Boy Jr, left the venue pained by the loss of Viloria.
The beating he took from Estrada, who is nicknamed “Bad Ass”, clearly showed. Viloria’s face was swollen, he had stitches on both eyebrows which were cut and his mouth was swollen and askew from the inexplicable pounding he took from the Mexican.
Viloria himself acknowledged this at a post-fight press conference when he apologized for how he looked. He said “sorry I don’t look the same when I first came here. We put our lives on the line every night in the sport of boxing for your entertainment and I hope you guys enjoyed a great night of boxing. All my congratulations to Estrada and his team for putting up a great fight tonight. He is a worthy champion. It was a very close fight. I hope we have a rematch down the line.”
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum acknowledged the gallantry of Viloria when he introduced him as “the guy with a big heart” to rounds of applause from the media.
Arum then made the point that “his battle, that’s all forgotten as everybody looks forward to the fight that’s going to happen in the summer on another terrific fight card.”
Arum announced that Estrada “has to fight mandatory challenger Melindo” and then he turned to Brian and said “then you can fight the winner” as Viloria responded “let’s do that.”
In what was a direct appeal to the Estrada camp and promoter Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions in Mexico, Viloria said “Give me a chance to fight for my world title again. Reciprocate my gesture in giving you a shot at my title” to which Beltran replied “Absolutely. No problem. Done.”
Viloria noted that everybody was a winner and added he hoped “we have more fights like this out here in China” stating how much he and his team enjoyed their stay at the Venetian.”
Addressing his countrymen in the Philippines, Viloria turned emotional when he said “I wish to thank everybody in Manila. Sorry I didn’t get the win.”
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