Viloria: Never give up!

For the nth time, Rocky reemerged on HBO over the last two weeks.
From the definitive first film that created the myth to the endless stream of sequels that attempted to recapture the magic of the original, fight and movie fans reconnected with a hero who never gave up no matter the odds.
It’s the iconic images of Rocky at the steps in Philadelphia, pummeling the meat or refusing to buckle despite being at a disadvantage against Apollo Creed or Mason Dixon that have hooked us through the years.
Add the inspiring Bill Conti score that every boxer has marched to, every runner has placed in his or her MP3 player and that every loser has played to revive a cause.
There’s also a love story, and I have always contended that Rocky and Adrian are among fiction’s most endearing romantic pairs.
Rocky’s journey as a hero in its simplest form is about not allowing adversity to get the better of you. Frustration and disappointment are part of the deal called life and it is up to us to decide whether we will allow setbacks to mess us up.
Rocky decided, with help from Adrian, his one-time nemesis Creed, brother-in-law Paulie and trainer Mickey, that he was never going to just give up.
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Brian Viloria, the Hawaiian Punch who has roots in Ilocos, is no Rocky. But the spirit of that mythical fighter throbs strongly in this 30-year-old WBO flyweight champion who successfully defended his title against Mexican KO artist Giovani Segura this weekend.
Just when Viloria critics thought that he would run out of gas and lose anew in a first title defense, Viloria rose to the moment and punished Segura with whipping hooks and body-crunching stabs.
Segura, who had a bump the size of almost half his head, could not put up any more defenses and had to be stopped from continuing by referee Samuel Virulet 29 seconds into the eighth round.
You could actually hear the Rocky theme blasting in your mind as joyful pandemonium broke out from the Viloria corner and straight into the middle of the ring.
“Never give up,” Viloria exuberantly proclaimed during his postfight interview with analyst Mike Ochosa, invoking a Rockyesque quality to his journey as a fighter.
Viloria has overcome adversity and doubt so many times. Like Rocky, he has risen anew and the possibility of greater fights loom large again for this fighter that Filipinos consider their very own.
It is never easy being a Filipino fighter in this Manny Pacquiao era where the Pacman’s shadow is large and encompassing.  But Viloria is his own man, capable of unleashing awesome power from a lithe frame.
When he is in his element, he can create his own show and Filipinos have learned to accept him as different from Pacquiao but as a champion of their own, nonetheless.
At least thrice during the fight, the crowd thunderously chanted “Vi-lo-ria! Vi-lo-ria!” when the Hawaiian Punch unloaded his vaunted power.
Unlike in Rocky, the spirited chants came spontaneously and not from a script or a director’s cue. It was an affirmation that never giving up had its just rewards.