By Michael Collins: WBO flyweight champion Brian Viloria (31-3, 18 KO’s) finally avenged his loss to Omar Nino Romero (31-5-2, 13 KO’s) from six years ago by stopping the now 36-year-old Romero in the 9th round last night at the Ynares Sports Arena, in Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Viloria, 31, hurt Romero with a powerful chopping right hand that send him retreating to the ropes where Viloria staggered him with a hard right hand. Referee Mike Ortega then stepped in to halt the fight at 2:07 of the round.
Romero was penalized for a low blow in the 5th round, and was cut over his left eye in the same round. In the 4th round, Viloria staggered Romero with a nice left hook to the head late in the round. Viloria flurried on Romero while he attempted to cover up on the ropes. To Romero’s credit, he was able to make it out of the round despite eating a lot of hard punches from the faster and harder punching Viloria.
Viloria established early on that his left hook and right hand were going to be big problems for Romero, as he seemed to have no real way of stopping either of the shots. Viloria was able to hit him pretty much every time he made the effort. However, a lot of the fight was a chess match with Viloria picking his spots to land rather than just jumping on Romero and flurrying. One had the sense that if Viloria went all out early in the fight he would have had a good chance of blowing Romero out because of his speed and power advantage in the fight.
Romero was dominated through the first seven rounds. In the 8th, Romero came back a little landing some nice right hands. However, in the 9th, Viloria blasted him with a hard right hand and barely missed him with a looping left hook. The right hand was all that was needed, as Romero retreated backwards to the ropes and ate a combination followed by a big right hand that staggered him to the point where he was leaning forward trying not to fall. At this point, Romero’s corner stepped into the ring at the same time that the referee halted the fight. It was a good stoppage because Viloria was going to finish Romero off this time if the fight hadn’t been stopped.
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Rodel Mayol (31-5-2, 22 KO’s) defeated Julio Cesar Miranda (37-7-1, 29 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The hard hitting Mayol dropped Miranda in the 1st with a nice left hook. Once against Mayol put Miranda down this time in the 2nd round with a flurry of hard shots. In the 5th, Mayol put Miranda down yet again. In the last half of the fight, Mayol out-worked Miranda landing a lot of combinations while Miranda often held on to slow down the action. The final judges’ scores were 100-87, 99-90 and 97-91.
WBO flyweight
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Gabutan D. Singwancha UD 12 Dado Cabintoy
Robert Udtuhan 12 round draw Alvin Makoling