Quo Vadis, Brian Viloria

Some attributed Viloria’s loss to undefeated upstart Artem Dalakian to the latter’s rather awkward style but I thought Brian simply got old.

Lost in the afterglow of Donnie Nietes’ commanding and dominant performance over Juan Carlos Reveco in a successful defense of his IBF flyweight crown was the stinging defeat suffered by compatriot Brian Viloria on the undercard in that HBO pay-per-view card.

Viloria lost via unanimous decision to undefeated upstart Artem Dalakian (16-0, 11KOs) and failed in his bid to become a world champion for the 5th time.

Some attributed it to the rather awkward style of Dalakian, but I thought Brian simply got old.

TRIGGER. Forgive my rather reductive take on the matter, but boxers growing old overnight is as real as it gets.

Indeed, Dalakian employed a rather unorthodox approach, not unlike a young Vic Darchinyan. He was taller and bigger than Brian too, and he used his strength to bully the “Hawaiian Punch” around the ring.

But the Viloria has seen it all. You don’t defeat the world champions like Ulises Solis, Omar Nino Romero, Giovani Segura and Hernan Marquez if you can’t handle a mere style issue.

Dalakian’s defense left many openings, and Brian was in fact able to stun his Ukranian opponent in the middle rounds.

Remember that Brian’s big right hand is his primary weapon and Dalakian was open for it all night long.

Unfortunately, Brian just couldn’t pull the trigger anymore. He cocked it and waited. And waited some more and decided against it, passing up several opportunities.

He would repeat the pattern until Dalakian would beat him to the punch with some nasty looking combinations that would made Brian look bad on the cards.

That fight reminded me of an Oscar del a Hoya who saw openings against Manny Pacquiao but his body just could not cope and respond no matter how he willed it.

ELBOW. And oh, that nasty elbow thrown by Dalakian was the harbinger of Brian’s demise. It was ruled unintentional, but the referee did a piss poor job of officiating that entire match.

Brian was repeatedly roughed up, pushed down and manhandled by his younger, feral opponent.

But that felonious elbow opened up a crater of a cut that just would not stop bleeding, interfering with Brian’s vision and eventually weakening him.

I’m surprised Brian’s camp did not lodge any protest against it. Maybe it’s also an admission that their man would have lost anyway.

Perhaps at 37 years of age, it’s time for Brian to hang up his gloves and ride off into that picturesque Hawaiian sunset.

LAST ROUND. It’s on the stunningly lovely Dr. Frances de la Serna who recently celebrated her birthday. Cheers!

VERBATIM:

But you have to be ignorant and live under a rock to not know that hasn’t been a problem in Mexico before. And his coach and managers [the father-andson duo of Jose ‘Chepo’ and Eddy Reynoso] are butchers, they own meat markets.

ABEL SANCHEZ GGG’s trainer on Canelo Alvarez’ testing positive for elevated levels of clenbuterol, a banned substance.