Win over Segura caps Viloria's banner year

Brian Viloria, despite being the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight champion, found himself as a heavy underdog as he prepared to face the reigning light flyweight champion Giovani Segura earlier this month. Yet while most were preparing epitaphs for Viloria's career, "The Hawaiian Punch" prepared for his coming out party. The 31-year-old Viloria (30-3, 17 knockouts) of Waipahu, Hawaii had entered the Segura bout riding a three-fight win streak following a technical knockout loss to Carlos Tamara in Metro Manila in 2010. But on Sunday, December 11, Viloria stopped his Mexican sparmate in eight rounds to the delight of the packed crowd at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. Viloria's career experienced a revival when he won a unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Miranda to annex the flyweight title, but the hype of Segura's two knockout victories over modern legend Ivan Calderon created an aura of invulnerability for the Bell, California, native that prevailed all the way up until the day of their scheduled 12-round bout. From the opening bell Viloria did the last thing anyone expected him to; he stood his ground and punched at the wide-open defense of Segura. Viloria's left hook couldn't miss, and midway through the second round a giant swelling began to appear on the right side of Segura's head. Later it was discovered that a blood vessel had popped in his head, forcing blood to accumulate underneath his skin that caused the area to balloon. By the sixth round Segura's vision began to suffer as Viloria pushed his supposedly stronger foe to the ropes and pounded him with body shots and left hooks. Referee Samuel Viruet was hesitant to send Segura out to take further punishment following the seventh round and finally deferred to his previous notion to stop the bout at the 29-second mark of the eighth round. All three judges had it for Viloria by a wide margin. "This is the sweetest victory," said Viloria, who himself had a badly swollen right eye after the bout. "More than the (Ulises) Solis fight, more than the (Julio Cesar) Miranda fight." Viloria had said before the fight that he relishes the underdog role. It may be hard to find opponents to favor Viloria after this most recent performance. — JVP, GMA News Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMA News and the Filipino Reporter newspaper in New York City. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ryansongalia.