Time for Viloria to join Pacquiao’s elite gang

Brian Viloria scored a knockdown each with a selection of killer punches-an opening right cross, a rocket-like right straight, a culminating left hook-to stop Mexico’s Hernan Marquez and unify the WBO and WBA world flyweight boxing titles.

It was a tough and very trying assignment as the 31-year-old Viloria had aptly predicted.

But if the bout did at several furious points appear like a mismatch, it was due to the smorgasbord of punches Viloria was able to bring to the table.

Add to that the obvious miscue the referee had committed in ruling a Viloria fall in the fifth round a mere slip.

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Viloria, at points, did succeed in engaging in a fistic feast.

He was dishing out lethal blows, leaving his foe to suck in poison leather, when the referee mercifully ordered a halt.

Of course, it was Marquez’s chief handler Robert Garcia who threw in the towel to signal his man had had enough.

But it was also not surprising that Viloria next admitted “the victory looked bad, but I wasn’t hurt.”

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He was hurt.

The bout was closer than it had appeared on the television screen.

Take it from one seasoned and gifted fight chronicler, who rated the fifth round of the world flyweight unification bout in Los Angeles one for the books, maybe the finest round in all of boxing this year.

Tyson Marquez started the fifth round with evil intent, wrote Mitt McGrain of boxing.com. “Viloria remained cool once more and had great success with a twisting right uppercut to the gut … which already had the look of being the punch to take newfound wind out of Marquez’s sails-when instead the Mexican found a crunching right hand counter that drew an audible sigh from the crowd. Little Tyson then absolutely poured on the hurt, driving Viloria back to the ropes and landing perhaps fifteen unanswered cuffing punches before driving him across the ring and to the canvas in what was questionably ruled a slip. While Viloria did technically slip to the ground it happened in the main because he was being beaten across the ring by a near-possessed opponent.”

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McGrain was direct to the point.

A punch did go in right before Viloria hit the canvas.

This reporter saw that fleeting blow itself.

Anyway, slip or no slip, the brilliant result should help solidify Viloria’s candidacy as certified member of the elite pound-for-pound gang.

The win did not only erase sorry memories of his unstable, fast-fading stands. It also confirmed his newfound grit and maturity.

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By the way, Manny Pacquiao was supposed to have been at ringside to help work the Viloria bout for television.

There were conflicting reports on why Pacquiao had decided to skip it.

Of course, it could’ve helped detect debilitating effects of digging in blindly and taking a shallow crouch while going for a knockout.

But more than that, Pacquiao could’ve also fully appreciated the killer blow, the rocket-like straight, thrown by Viloria safely from atop, that floored Marquez for the second time on Sunday.

The shot was launched from the seat of power down the navel, not unlike a spitfire mantis strike by the immortal Bruce Lee.