By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Brian Viloria who lost his IBF light flyweight title to Carlos Tamara of Colombia in a stunning TKO at 1:45 of the 12th round is reported in “stable condition” at the Makati Medical Center where he was transferred to from the San Juan De Dios Hospital near the Cuneta Astrodome where the fight took place.

Viloria appeared to have punched himself out after eight rounds in a fight where he hurt  Camara with vicious body shots giving the former Colombian Olympian a chance to come back with continuous flurries and some big shots to the side of the head as Viloria wilted and ultimately could hardly move.

The ninth round was the beginning of the end for Viloria as he tried to go for a knockout as Filipino fight fans kept chanting “Viloria! Viloria!!” instead of using his left jab which proved tremendously effective in the early rounds and moving around.

Tamara continued to keep the pressure on Viloria who occasionally caught the mandatory challenger with some wild shots but his punches had lost their sting while Tamara appeared to be getting stronger knowing he had the champion in trouble.

Viloria got drawn into a close quarters slugfest in round eleven and paid the price as Tamara connected time and again and with his energy almost totally sapped Viloria stumbled into the canvas twice in the final round out of fatigue. Sensing his chance Tamara rushed Viloria against the ropes and hammered him with a flurry of punched before international referee Bruce McTavish stepped in and very correctly signaled the end as Viloria could hard stand.

He was helped to his dressing room where he collapsed and was then rushed to the nearby San Juan De Dios Hospital where he wasted almost 30 minutes with no CT Scan being done and no doctor attending to him forcing Solar Sports top executives Wilson Tseng and Peter Chanliong and Viloria’s manager Gary Gittelsohn and Viloria’s girlfriend Erika Navarro to have him transferred to the extremely well-equipped Makati Medical Center where he was given a CT Scan and other tests.

Games and Amusements Board boxing division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz who spoke to Viloria inside the emergency room said “right now he is stable. They did a lot of medical tests . CT Scan was good and normal, they were worried about the cervical spine because Brian was complaining of neck pains so they did a scan also. They were entertaining more of muscle spasms. They did a chest Xray and it was also good so right now he is being asked to stay in the hospital, maybe overnight to observe because boxers who have a difficult fight and receive a lot of punches to the head really have to stay in the hospital like they did in the cases of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.”

Dr. Cruz said Viloria who complained about a headache “could have had a mild concussion  or just a mere cervical spasm, the muscles of the neck.”

Attending physician Dr. Regina Makalintal told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports “the patient is conscious, follows verbal commands but he’s just complaining of unusual tightness of the head but the cranial nerves are okay, there is no paralysis or weakness of the upper and lower extremities, his reflexes are okay and there is no abnormal planta response. We did a scan and its normal, there is no evidence of bleeding, there is no fracture of the skull. He is stable in his functions and he’s doing good.”

Viloria’s girlfriend who was distraught when Brian was rushed to the hospital and rode with him in the ambulance breathed a sigh of relief when the doctors reported that Viloria was fine.