By Rey Danseco
The management of Araneta Coliseum in Manila, Philippines plans to stage the anticipated all-Filipino championship bout between the newly World Boxing Council (WBC) light flyweight champion Brian Viloria and top ranked contender Juanito Rubillar in late January of next year.
Araneta Coliseum was the same venue that saw Gabriel “Flash” Elorde dethrone American Harold Gomes for the World Junior Lightweight crown on a 7th round knockout before a jubilant packed house of 33,000 on March 16, 1960. And of course, the venue was home to one of the most popular fights in boxing history, the explosive "Thrilla in Manila" that saw Muhammad Ali stop Joe Fraizer after 14 rounds of war on October 1, 1975.
But the Mexico-based sanctioning body of the WBC may not allow it, disobeying its own well-publicized decisions of giving Rubillar a second mandatory shot in the 43rd WBC Annual Conventions in October in Spain.
WBC Executive Secretary Mauricio Sulaimán, son of WBC president Jose Sulaiman, admitted that he defied his father decision to grant the request of Viloria’s American handler Gary Gittlesohn to pick up another challenger before facing the top ranked contender Rubillar.
The WBC president assured Rubillar the mandatory shot to whoever the WBC 108-pound title holder is in his letter dated February 22, with copies that were sent to Rubillar’s manager and the eldest son of Flash Elorde Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde Jr., Viloria’s American handler Gary Gittlesohn, the members of the WBC Board of Governors, Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation president Frank Quill in Australia, and Games and Amusement Board (GAB) in the Philippines.
"The World Boxing Council has decided to have Brian Viloria, from the USA fight against the winner of the vacant title fight between Jose Antonio Aguirre and Eric Ortiz. The winner of that fight must fight mandatorily with Juanito Rubillar, from the Philippines, to cover in this way the vacancy of the light flyweight division,” the WBC president said in his letter addressed to Viloria and Rubillar.
"The new champion (Viloria) requested a voluntary (defense) and was granted with the condition that the winner fights Juanito,” said the younger Sulaiman in an email from Mexico City over the weekend.
Rubillar, in an interview yesterday, has insisted his right to challenge Viloria somewhere around January to February 2006.
“Brian (Viloria) and I both don’t have no choice but to fight with his title on the line, it’s already mandated and I think even the WBC must comply with it,” said Rubillar.
In a move to prevent Rubillar, Gittlesohn negotiated with Bob Arum of Top Rank to include Viloria -- who renamed by Philippine president Gloria Arroyo as “Filipino-Hawaiian Punch” – in the card under the WBC super featherweight title eliminator between Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales on Jan. 21 at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arum set Viloria’s title defense onanother date against another opponent, the former WBC minimumweight king and current WBC light fly No. 13 contender Jose Antonio Aguirre of Mexico, on Feb. 18 at Aladdin Casino, Las Vegas. The card includs the defenses of WBO welter king Antonio Margarito against Manuel Gomez and WBO minimumweight boss Ivan Calderon against yet to determined challenger.
Aguirre – who is managed by Morales – lost two in a row, both in world 108-lb title bouts this year. The first was a shameful 7th round round stoppage loses to his compatriot Erik Ortiz for the vacant WBC light flyweight belt in March in Mexico City and the 4th round TKO defeat to WBA champ Roberto Vasquez when he abandoned the fight after suffering a severe cut on his left eyebrow in August.
Rubillar, after losing a highly controversial decision over 12 rounds in a rematch with then WBC light fly champ Jorge “Travieso” Arce in Sept. 2004 in Tijuana, has remained highly rated as the WBC recognized the decision as questionable. Aside from that, the scale was allegedly tampered when there was no WBC official during the weigh in at the open-air venue in Tijuana’s Plaza Revolucion.
At the WBC convention in Spain, in October 2005, Rubillar gained another the mandatory shot to Viloria from the older Sulaiman’s initiative despite there was tremendous pressure from two imfluential promoters who were asking for a final elimination bout.
The WBC confirmed: “Light flyweight: world champion Brian Viloria must next fight No. 1 ranked official challenger Juanito Rubillar of the Philippines.”
“I am disappointed on WBC. It’s not fair for me to wait as I have the right for mandatory shot,” said Rubillar. “I hope they won’t disobey their own rules.”
