The Philippine Online Chronicles

Brian Viloria lost steam, literally, and in the process lost his International Boxing Federation (IBF) title.

In a bizarre conclusion, Colombian challenger Carlos Tamara (21-4, 15 KOs) won the IBF belt in the last round of the lightflyweight championship dubbed “Collision Course” via technical knockout over the “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria (26-4-3, 15 KOs) yesterday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Tamara, lagging behind in points en route to the 12th round, unleashed rapid blows to a defenseless Viloria to prompt referee Bruce McTavish to put a halt on the fight at the 1:45 mark.

The fight started in dominant fashion for Viloria, who fought in close distance while unleashing powerful body punches and upper cuts that staggered Tamara in a few instances.

However, in the ninth round, Tamara, sporting a badly swollen face, changed tactics and used his reach advantage and fought Viloria from afar. Viloria, obviously exhausted after eight grueling rounds, threw a minimal amount of punches since then and got his worst beating in the 11th.

At the start of the 12th, Tamara threw 14 consecutive blows to Viloria, who received it with both hands down. Viloria fought back by moving laterally and landed two power punches but his desperate effort caused him to slip twice on his next attempts. After his second slip, Viloria simply stood and hung on the ropes, receiving punches from Tamara before McTavish stopped the bout.

After the fight, Viloria was rushed to the nearby San Juan de Dios Hospital, skipping the post-fight press conference. Gmanews.tv reported that Viloria is now in stable condition.

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