The Cuneta Astrodome was barely half-full, but you wouldn’t know it from the cheers of the audience. I went to the card with two of the biggest boxing nuts among my friends, Alekos Orendain, whom you might remember as the resident reviewer of the HBO 24/7 series on the site, and Alex Tizon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning colleague who “has been punched in the face more often than any of [his] closest friends.” Each of them had to travel halfway across the metropolis on a fine Saturday morning in January just to spend the next several hours watching skinny men pummel each other.

It was no surprise to us, therefore, that the crowd was composed of fellow boxing nuts who, when not screaming at the action in the ring, were busy hooting and hollering at, and pretty much sexually-harassing, the round girls during breaks. Testosterone dripped heavily in the air.

Brian Viloria, the IBF Junior Flyweight champion who headlined the card, gave the crowd plenty to cheer for early in his bout against Colombian challenger Carlos Tamara. “The Hawaiian Punch” took the action straight to Tamara, all but erasing his previous reputation, which he got during his first title reign four years ago, as a disappointing fighter who relied solely on his skills and talent but failed to show courage or heart.

Viloria held steady in a slugfest early in the game, to the delight of the crowd who chanted his name. “Brian, take it in the warehouse!” screamed a well-meaning fan, whose message was lost in translation; literally, it means “Brian, kunin mo sa bodega!” They were instructions, in colloquial Tagalog, for Viloria to keep taking it to Tamara’s body. Viloria complied, despite the mangled commands, shaking the challenger with furious body blows.

Then, all of a sudden, in the ninth-round, Tamara unleashed a 1-2 combination, and Viloria got hit. And hit. And hit. And hit. And hit. And hit. And hit. And hit.

You get the idea. For the next four rounds Viloria, who had been controlling the fight, looked dazed and exhausted. Finally, referee Bruce McTavish mercifully stopped the fight as Viloria showed signs of having trouble staying on his feet on his own. Tamara, himself a former Olympian like the fallen champion, celebrated the biggest victory of his career. The crowd, meanwhile, applauded both the conqueror and the fallen hero.

It was a terrible loss for Viloria, to be sure, although I’m sure fan sympathy remains with him for his gallant stand. Filipino boxing fans, especially the kind of nuts who were in attendance last Saturday, would much rather see their champions carried off their shields rather than coasting through to questionable victories. Viloria had a lot to be proud of in his performance this weekend.

I don’t know if Viloria has what it takes to climb the mountain once more. A lot has been made of his remarkable comeback after losing to his first world title to Omar Niño Romero, and then falling short in two attempts to regain a title, in a rematch against Romero and a title fight against Mexican champion Edgar Sosa. He toiled in a series of low-profile bouts before getting a shot against Ulises Solis, whom he knocked out at last year at the Araneta Coliseum. It was the best performance of his career, and he admitted afterward that had he lost, he would have contemplated retiring from the sport.

I also don’t know if Viloria would quit now; when was the last time a boxer retired young and stayed retired? But then, the knock on him during his entire professional career had been his desire, and the lack of it might just be enough to keep him away from the ring, if he does end up hanging up his gloves.

But the real big loser over the Viloria upset has to be Solar Sports, who ended their deal with Top Rank boxing to concentrate on building up the “Boxing at the Bay” series as a franchise. But without a big draw like Viloria, you could say Solar is up the Manila Bay without a paddle.

Meanwhile, Top Rank has signed a deal with Solar’s rival, ABS-CBN, who will be broadcasting all the big Top Rank cards that do not involve Manny Pacquiao. This includes next month’s Pinoy Power/Latin Fury card, which will feature Nonito Donaire, Gerry Peñalosa, and Bernabe Concepcion.

It’s a stunning turnaround for Solar, who only a year ago co-produced with Top Rank the highly-successful “the Flash the the Furious” card featuring Donaire and Viloria. It’s amazing just how they squandered all of their momentum from that event.

In the undercard, WBO minimumweight champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes was very impressive in his non-title fight against Mexican Jesus Silvestro. Despite being a last-minute replacement, Silvestro bucked an opening-round knockdown to give a very competitive fight for Nietes, who displayed all of his skills. The match was fun to watch, with the two little guys going at it at warp-speed, but it ended weirdly in a technical knockout after Silvestro spat out his mouthpiece intentionally to buy some time in his corner.

Veteran Jimrex Jaca came off an almost two-year layoff to knock out Indonesia’s Ramadhan Weriu in the fifth round of their scheduled 10-round bout. Most casual boxing fans remember Jaca as the victim of Pacquiao’s rival, Juan Manuel Marquez, in 2006.

20-year-old lightweight prospect Jason Pagara survived in a majority decision against Indonesian Eddy Comaro in their ten-round bout. The first judge saw the fight as a 95-95 draw, while the second gave it barely to Pagara, 96-94. The crowd was stunned when it was announced that the third gave a lopsided 98-92 score to Pagara, and roundly booed the decision. The audience cheered roundly for the losing Indonesian fighter, proving indeed the crowd was full of knowledgeable boxing nuts.