Brian Viloria had originally been offered to fight someone else other than Nino Romero, the sneaky Mexican who faces him today and who had given him trouble on two occasions.
But the Filipino-American fighter dismissed them and made it clear he had somebody in mind as his choice for an opponent.
Just before noon today, Viloria gets the chance to solve the puzzle that is Romero when he puts his World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight title at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig with Solar Sports showing the fights in partnership with GMA 7.
Signs that their third meeting is green and go and will go on without a hitch surfaced during yesterday's official weighin at the posh Discovery Suites where Viloria, 31, and Romero, 35, both tipped the scales at 112 lbs.
"I think I didn't train as hard in our last two fights as I've trained for this fight," said Viloria, whose career got a big boost after he scored a smashing stoppage win over pound-for-pound entrant Giovani Segura of Mexico last December.
Romero had beaten Viloria in August and November 2006 although the second fight was later ruled a no-contest after the Mexican failed a drug test.
Viloria parades a 30-3-0 win-loss-draw card with 17 knockouts, while Romero totes a 31-4-2 slate with 13 knockouts.
The WBO has appointed Michael Ortega (US) to referee the scheduled 12-round match, while the three judges are Glen Feldman (US), Carlos Ortiz (US) and Danrex Tapdasan (Philippines). The fight supervisor is Leon Panoncillo (US).
