After being stopped on his tracks in Pasig City on Sunday, Mexico’s Omar Niño Romero has offered to sail elsewhere in a wild, wild chase of defending world flyweight boxing king Brian Viloria.
The badly beaten Romero, a former world champion, dared Viloria to see him in Mexico to complete what he claimed was unfinished business inside the fight ring.
Like it or not, boxing is also navigation. In Romero’s case, it has however reached a bothersome point wherein the sweet science has either damaged or totally busted Romero’s sailing instinct.
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There were at least three successive instances, starting the end of the third round, when Romero was caught traveling toward the wrong corner immediately after the bell.
It was not easy to tell what had exactly caused Romero to lose track.
But, although visibly badly beaten, Romero would make a post-fight brag that Viloria had not hurt him the least.
Cried the vanquished Mexican: “I want another fight with Viloria, this time in Mexico. I gave him a chance by coming to the Philippines. In Mexico, I’ll be with my people, I’ll beat him there.”
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Truth to tell, geography hardly played a part in that all-consuming revenge victory by Viloria.
It was a new Viloria, totally different from the faded, gutless guy Romero had beaten in their first meeting, who mastered and stopped the Mexican warrior last Sunday.
Romero did make a flimsy protest over what he claimed was the unwarranted stoppage.
He was indeed on his feet when the referee jumped in.
But he was tottering to a point of no return when the referee mercifully saved him.
In fact, his chief handler had jumped onto the ring apron and was in the process of throwing in the towel when the referee stopped it.
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It was another case of atrocious navigation because, had Romero been allowed to walk in and fight back, he would have landed instead on the lap of waiting physicians.
Viloria, after scoring with a flurry, capped by a firebomb straight to the head, was already moving in for the kill.
“He was already complaining of a headache starting the third round,” national cycling great Jesus Garcia Jr. quoted Romero’s chief second as saying on his way out of the stadium.
Garcia, a Fil-Mexican, drove all the way from his hometown Mangaldan in Pangasinan to cheer for Viloria, but he also managed to unfurl a Mexican flag for Team Romero to acknowledge when they walked into the fight venue.
Anyway, in Romero’s case, he will have to move out of Mexico and try to gain renewed respectability if he hopes for a fourth meeting with Viloria.
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Yes, Viloria, feeling renewed and tremendously empowered at a full 112 pounds (he used to struggle in the light flyweight backyard) has set off to navigate a greater prizefight landscape.
He said he would try to break into the pound-for-pound ratings by staying as a full-fledged flyweight.
Last heard of, Viloria, 31, a late-maturing artist, was preparing to pack up for a much-delayed tour of Europe with his lovely wife.
They got married two years ago, but their honeymoon had to be initially called off while Viloria successfully chartered a route to renewed, irrevocable greatness.