Viloria KOS Marquez, unifies WBO, WBA crowns

BRIAN Viloria proved that he is one of the best 112-pound fighters in the world after unifying the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight crowns with an impressive 10th round technical knockout over Mexican Hernan “Tyson” Marquez at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles.

Viloria immediately made his presence felt in the opening round, quickly sending Marquez to the canvass.

The 24-year-old Mexican gathered himself and shook off the early knockdown. As he was starting to hurt Viloria in the fifth round, the Filipino-Hawaiian banger landed a devastating combination that dropped Mar- quez for the second time in the scheduled 12-round world title fight.

The 31-year-old Viloria, who had some stamina issues in the past, seemed like he was slowing down in the 10th round, but a picture-perfect left hook found its target and Marquez went down for the count for the third time.

Marquez’s trainer Rob- ert Garcia had seen enough and threw in the towel at the 1:01 mark to save his fighter from absorbing more punishment.

Viloria, who is rated behind Marquez at No. 2 in The Ring Magazine flyweight rankings, captured his sixth straight win and his fourth straight Mexican victim. Viloria improved to 32-3 with 19 knockouts.

Marquez, on the other hand, suffered his first loss since his 2010 knockout defeat to Filipino superstar Nonito Donaire Jr. He also saw his seven-fight winning romp end and fell to 34-3 with 25 knockouts.

In the meantime, Filipino Drian Francisco made it a 2-0 night for the Filipinos as he stopped tough Mexican Javier Gallo in the fifth round.

Referee Lou Moret waived the bout in the 2:54 mark after the 30-year-old Francisco unloaded an array of heavy shots on Gallo.

Francisco improved to 24-1-1 with 19 knockouts, while the 29-year-old Gallo dropped to 18-6-1 with 10 knockouts.