Viloria victorious in debut, but Salud suffers rare loss
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By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
One glorious streak ended, but a glorious career started yesterday at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
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Waipahu's Brian Viloria made a spectacular professional boxing debut, dominating a four-round flyweight (112 pounds) bout over Ben Jun Escobia of The Philippines. After sending Escobia to the canvas in the first and third rounds, Viloria was awarded a unanimous decision.
Brian Viloria rejoices after his unanimous decision over Ben Jun Escobia.
"I just wanted to go out there and fight my fight," Viloria said. "I was just trying to take any openings, and fortunately I came out ahead."
In a blow as stunning as one of Viloria's left hooks, Jesus Salud of Nanakuli lost in the main event of the four-bout card that was televised nationally on ESPN2. Fernando "Bobby Boy" Velardez was awarded the victory in the junior featherweight (126 pounds) bout when referee Abraham Pacheco stopped the contest 41 seconds into the eighth round because of a cut over Salud's left eye.
It was Salud's first loss in Hawai'i after 35 victories spanning 17 years.
"I couldn't understand it," said Salud, whose record fell to 62-11 overall. "The doctor checked it (in the seventh round) and said I was fine. The referee made the decision and I'm very upset at that because he's not a doctor."
Early in the seventh round, the cut was bleeding profusely, and Pacheco paused the action twice to have ring doctors assess Salud's status. Both times, Salud was cleared to continue.
What's more, Salud said the cut was started by an inadvertent head butt by Velardez. However, Velardez's father and manager, Armando, said it was "a big right hand" that opened it.
In any case, Velardez controlled the first seven rounds, and was ahead by at least five points on all three of the judges' cards when the bout was stopped. In effect, Salud would have needed a knockout in the last three rounds to win the fight. Salud's younger brother and trainer, Glenn Salud, said that was a possibility.
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"Traditionally, he's the strongest in the later rounds," Glenn said. "He was turning on when they stopped it. Yeah, he was bleeding, but he's been cut worse than that before and still won."
Jesus Salud, right, gets treatment for a cut over his left eye, which eventually led to a stoppage of the bout.
Velardez, a senior at San Bernardino High in California, improved to 18-4-1 with what he called the biggest victory of his career.
"Jesus Salud is one of the old masters of the ring," Armando Velardez said. "He's the best fighter we've gone up against so far, but I think this was a case of youth beating experience."
To be sure, Velardez racked up points in the early rounds by jabbing at the shorter Salud and then backing away.
"I didn't want to stay there as a target," said the 20-year-old Velardez, who is 18 years younger than Salud. "I wanted to keep moving so he couldn't connect."
Once the cut opened over Salud's eye, Velardez said he used it as his target. "I could see the blood going in his eye, so I knew he couldn't see," he said. "So I kept going for it."
Nearly an hour after the fight, Salud said: "I still can't believe it. This is the kind of thing that happens in places like Mexico, not Hawai'i."
Erasing some of the disappointment for the estimated crowd of nearly 2,500 was the performance of Viloria.
As a tribute to his rich amateur career, which included a world championship and an Olympic appearance, Viloria entered the ring in green-and-gold trunks — the same colors he wore as a member of the Waipahu Boxing Club.
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As a tribute to his Hawai'i's ties, he was escorted from the locker room to the ring by a troupe of hula dancers while the theme from Hawai'i Five-O played over the sound system.
Jesus Salud lost his fight against Fernando "Bobby Boy" Velardez. It was Salud's first loss in Hawai'i in 17 years.
From the start, it was clear that Viloria would not have a problem making the transition from amateur to pro. A left hook by Viloria dropped Escobia midway through the first round. A similar punch did the same damage in the third. Both times, Escobia rose to his feet after the count reached eight seconds.
"I couldn't see the combinations," Escobia said through an interpreter. "Brian was too fast for me."
Viloria also controlled the second and fourth rounds, and Escobia's resilience was perhaps the only factor preventing a knockout debut for Viloria.
"I think maybe I disrespected him a little bit after I knocked him down the first time, and let him back in it," said Viloria, 20. "But it was a learning experience for me, too. I'll get better as a fighter because of this."
The statistics relayed Viloria's dominance. He threw 331 punches, landing 144 for a 44 percent rate. Escobia threw 212 and landed only 35. All three judges scored the fight 40-33 in Viloria's favor.
Viloria said he felt some pain in his right hand during the third round and relied mostly on his left in the final round. Not that it mattered.
"I fought only one other guy as good as Brian, and he was ranked No. 4 in WBC," said Escobia, 30, whose record dropped to 13-14-3. "Brian is going to be very good."
In another preliminary bout, Jose Navarro of Los Angeles defeated Carlos Zambrano by technical knockout in the third round of a junior bantamweight (115 pounds) bout. Navarro, who improved to 4-0 with the first knockout of his career, was Viloria's Olympic teammate last year. Zambrano dropped to 3-5-1.
Also, Ann Wolfe of Austin, Texas, earned a 10-round unanimous decision over Philadelphia's Vienna Williams to win the IFBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) women's world championship.
Wolfe improved to 7-1, while Williams fell to 5-1.
