INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines--With a furious finish, Colombian Carlos Tamara dethroned Brian Viloria as IBF light flyweight champion Saturday.

Given up for dead after a tentative start, Tamara poured it on in the late rounds to score a 12th-round technical knockout over the Filipino-American known as Hawaiian Punch before a stunned crowd at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

Tamara landed 14 unanswered punches on a wobbly legged Viloria, prompting referee Bruce McTavish to stop the fight with a minute and 45 seconds left in the final round.

Viloria?s defeat left the Philippines with just four world boxing champions in Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire, Rodel Mayol and Donnie Nietes, the WBO minimumweight titlist who had earlier registered a 10th round stoppage of Mexican Jesus Silvestre in a non-title bout.

Tamara punished Viloria badly that the heavily favored defending champion, also a former WBC titlist, had to be rushed to the Makati Medical Center for a postfight checkup.

It was a triumph few expected after Viloria, using quick jabs and crisp combinations, dictated the tempo up until the eighth round, before losing steam.

Growing in confidence as the fight wore on, Tamara settled into a punching rhythm late, applying the pressure on Viloria with solid combinations until the former champion folded up.

?I was hungry,? Tamara said through trainer Butch Garcia. ?Viloria was very strong in the early rounds. But he was very, very tired in the late rounds.?

Tamara began pouncing on a weary Viloria in the ninth round. He sustained his pace in the 10th, opening a cut over Viloria?s left eye.

In between rounds, Roberto Garcia was overheard at the corner, egging Viloria to work on his jab and combinations. But the ?Hawaiian Punch? couldn?t execute.

With Viloria?s jab gone, Tamara found the opening he needed, pounding the former champion with shots to the head and the body.

Tamara and Viloria traded big shots to start the final round, but the former champion was visibly fagged out, slipping to the floor twice after missing on his power punches.

Amid chants of ?Vi-lo-ria?, Tamara fought perhaps the best round of his career, relentlessly tagging Viloria with combinations until McTavish stopped the fight.

Making the second defense of the crown he won via knockout over Ulises Solis last year, Viloria was the busier fighter in the opening round, leading up with lefts to the face followed by combinations.

?He really hurt me in the early rounds,? Tamara, who had a swollen left eye and blisters on his fists, said. ?But I kept putting pressure on him. I became motivated when I saw that he looked tired.?

?From Day 1, we never had a doubt that he would be champion,? said Tamara?s trainer Butch Sanchez, who had predicted a late stoppage for Tamara during the weigh-in Friday.

Silvestre gave the Bacolod City-born champion Nietes all that he could handle before finally yielding with 1:37 remaining in the last round.

Nietes earlier unloaded a right uppercut in the opening round that knocked down Silvestre, a late replacement for Mexicans Ivan Meneses and Sammy Gutierrez.

?I didn?t expect him to last until the 10th round,? Nietes said in Filipino. ?He was tough.?

Jimrex Jaca stopped Indonesian foe Ramadhan Weriu in the fifth round of their lightweight showdown, while Jason Pagara came away with a majority decision victory over Eddy Comaro also of Indonesia.

Dodie Boy Peñalosa Jr., the son of the former two-time world champion of the same name, made an auspicious professional debut, knocking out Anthony Balubar in the second round.