Brian Viloria (born November 24, 1980) is a retired American professional boxer of Filipino descent. He is a former unified WBA and WBO flyweight champion, as well as a former WBC and IBF light flyweight champion. His nickname of "The Hawaiian Punch" was first given to him by Jesus Salud, a fellow Hawaiian of Filipino descent and himself a former world champion in boxing.
In 1999, he won the US championships, the national Golden Gloves and the world title as an amateur at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston, Texas but lost early at the Sydney Olympics 2000 against Brahim Asloum, who he had beaten in the 1999 World Championships in Houston, Texas. His overall record was 230-8.
He went to Northern Michigan University as part of the United States Olympic Education Center. Viloria bested both Glenn Donaire in the quarter-finals, and future world champion Nonito Donaire in the semi-finals of the 2000 US Olympic Trials. He won a spot on the 2000 Olympic team by defeating his one-time teammate, Karoz Norman.[citation needed]
Viloria went to the Sydney Olympics as a medal favorite, but lost to eventual gold medalist Brahim Asloum of France, 6-4. Viloria landed dozens of body punches but the judges did not award points for his blows.[1]
Viloria started his professional career as a flyweight and picked up 17 wins with no defeats. He also captured and defended the NABF Flyweight title in the process before moving down to the Light Flyweight division.
On September 10, 2005, Viloria dropped down to light flyweight and won the WBC crown by knocking out Eric Ortiz in the first round with a powerful right.
He successfully defended it once on February 18, 2006, against José Antonio Aguirre (boxer) and was undefeated in 20 bouts. Viloria's unbeaten streak ended when he was dethroned by Mexican Omar Niño Romero on August 10, 2006.
In a rematch held on November 18, 2006, at Las Vegas, Romero held on to his title with a controversial majority draw decision, with Viloria knocking down Romero twice during the fight. Romero was then stripped of his title after failing a post fight drug test for methamphetamine and the decision was overturned into a no-contest.
On April 14, 2007, he fought Edgar Sosa for the vacant WBC Light Flyweight title but lost via majority decision.
Viloria then decided to move up to the super flyweight division and began training under former champion, Robert Garcia, at La Colonia Gym in Oxnard, California.[2]
Brian Viloria won via unanimous decision against Jose Garcia Bernal (26-11-1) in his debut at the super flyweight division at the Alameda Swap Meet in Los Angeles, California on January 5, 2008.[3] Viloria secured four more victories before deciding to move back down to Light Flyweight.[4]
On April 19, 2009, Viloria moved back down to junior flyweight to challenge Mexican Ulises "Archie" Solís for the IBF Junior Flyweight title. Pressured by a fading career due to his past losses in big fights, Viloria defeated Solis, whom at the time of the fight was rated the #1 Jr. Flyweight by The Ring[5] in the 11th round with a vicious right to the jaw. The official bout stoppage was a KO 2:56 into the 11th round.[6] The fight was held at Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines, site of the Thrilla in Manila, as the co-main event of the Donaire-Martinez fight. Viloria snapped Solis' 11-fight unbeaten streak, 8 of which were title defenses while extending his win streak to 6.
Viloria successfully defended his IBF Junior Flyweight title on August 29, 2009, against Jesus Iribe.[7]
For his second defense, Viloria fought Carlos Tamara of Colombia on January 23, 2010. Though leading in points, the referee called a halt to the bout in Tamara's favor as Viloria was close to passing out in the twelfth round awarding Tamara a TKO victory and the belt.[8] Moments following the bout, Viloria passed out due to extreme exhaustion.[9]
Viloria returned to the flyweight division against Mexico's Omar Soto on July 10, 2010, at the Yñares Sports Arena, Pasig, Metro Manila.[10]
On July 16, 2011, Viloria captured the WBO Flyweight title by besting Mexican Julio César Miranda.[11] On December 10, 2011, Viloria stopped Giovani Segura by way of an 8th Round TKO.[12] On May 13, 2012, Viloria stopped his rival Omar Niño Romero in the 9th round for another successful defense of his WBO Flyweight title.[13]
On November 17, 2012, Viloria challenged Hernan Marquez in a flyweight unification between his WBO title and the Marquez's WBA crown. He went on to stop Marquez in 10 rounds becoming the first flyweight unified world champion since 1965.[14] Viloria then lost both titles to Juan Francisco Estrada on April 6, 2013.[15]
Viloria picked up four more wins before facing pound for pound king Román González on October 17, 2015, for the WBC and The Ring Flyweight titles. Viloria was stopped in the 9th round and lost via TKO. At the time of the stoppage, the scorecards were 78-73, 78-73 and 79-72 in favor of Gonzalez.[16]
Viloria, ranked #2 by the WBA, later fought Artem Dalakian, who was ranked #1 by the WBA, on February 24, 2018, for the WBA flyweight title but lost by unanimous decision. He implicitly retired after the fight.[17][18]
Major World Titles:
Minor World Titles:
On September 6, 2009, Viloria, who was in attendance at the World Cup of Pool, was chosen to perform the ceremonial break shot before the start of the final match. Because he never played pocket billiards before, Viloria miscued on his first attempt but achieved the shot on his second.[19]
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