And still!... It's the Hawaiian Punch

Viloria’s Made-for-TV Performance
Dennis Principe

Based on the scorecards, world light flyweight champion Brian Viloria strutted his stuff in a seemingly dominating fashion that made Mexican challenger Jesus “El Azul" Iribe look like he was beaten black and blue, at least for those who failed to watch the GMA-7 telecast.

The official scores of the 12-round bout read 118-110, 117-112 and 117-111, all for Viloria, which means Iribe won three rounds, at most, in the Honolulu, Hawaii card dubbed “Island Assault."

For boxing purists who saw the fight, the point of discussion may well be the 12th and final round when Viloria, already way ahead on points, decided to fight toe-to-toe, thus giving Iribe one final chance to steal a win and ruin Viloria’s goal of giving boxing a rumbling resurgence in the volcanic island.

Strategically, the Waipahu-raised Viloria may have done a foolish decision in the 12th canto as all he needed to do was, metaphorically speaking, go island-hopping and eventually enjoy the fruits of his labor.

But Viloria had other things in mind, something that may have boosted his stock and realize his personal aspiration for Hawaii boxing.

Thanks to Manny Pacquiao, boxing nowadays is about giving fans toe-to-toe action that has to be punctuated by a knockout.

Sure, Viloria may have failed to score an emphatic stoppage but his decision to slug it out in the final round, given the fact he was way ahead, proves that he has the unyielding will of admired champions in the class of Pacquiao.

Boxing is about business and when you talk of business in boxing, you talk of selling tickets, pay-per-view buys and free TV advertisements. That can only be realized by giving fight fans what they want - explosive endings.

Many thinks Viloria adhered to the adage of boxing “protect yourself at all times" in the most modern, suited-for-TV way.

That Viloria indeed protected his stature as a modern-day world champion who won't just sit on big leads but will instead always go for a knockout at any given time.

That fittingly, the thrilling 12th round was the Hawaiian Punch’s cherry on a sundae. - GMANews.TV
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Congratulations to the Hawaiian Punch.
More of the fight review.