Cinderella Man Viloria KOs Solis to wrest IBF crown

MANILA, Philippines – Finally, Brian Viloria can put his years of fighting at swap meets behind him. Away from the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas fights for over a year since his fall as champ, Viloria marked his amazing comeback to big-time boxing on Sunday with a masterful 11th-round knockout of Mexican champion Ulises Solis, wresting the IBF light flyweight title in front of a sellout crowd at the Araneta Coliseum. Viloria unleashed a hard right straight, third of a series of right-hand straight punches, to Solis' jaw that sent the Mexican crashing to the canvass with just a few seconds left in the 11th of their 12-round bout, the other half of a twin title match dubbed “The Flash and The Furious". “This is my story book ending. I thanked my team that worked and believed in me," said Viloria, who had already turned his back on the sport after a string of losses. The knockout win gave him a very emphatic comeback. Known as “The Hawaiian Punch", the Fil-Am fighter unleashed the KO punch after punishing the Mexican slugger earlier in the round with two solid straight blows to the head. “I encountered lots of challenges with this fight. But we stayed focus for 12 rounds. Solis is a great fighter and has a great jab but in the end I just let my punches go," said Villoria, who is the ninth-ranked light flyweight contender. Viloria, who improved his fight record to 25-2-0 with 15 by KO, clearly was the dominant fighter in the match and continued to pressure Solis up to the 11th round where he ended the Mexicans title defense bid. “I just want to enjoy first. I have no rest last year and this is a very emotional win for me." Viloria, wearing green trunks with gold trim, did not give Solis the chance to get the upper hand in the match and went out early in the first round rocking the champion with consecutive solid right hands. He was the aggressor in the entire opening round sneaking in a number of combination to the Mexicans body. Viloria continued his pressure in the second round working his way towards Solis’ body to corner the champion at the ropes several times. Solis came alive in the third and countered with his own combination to slow down Viloria’s continuous pressure. He landed good solid hits at the midsection. But Solis could not escape what Viloria has in store for him. Viloria opened the fifth round with a flurry of punches to once again send Solis against the ropes. Viloria then opened a cut near Solis’ right eyebrow that he continued to target in the latter rounds. At one point referee Bruce Mactavish called a time out so that the champion from Guadalajara, Mexico could have his cut looked at by his corner. Viloria doubled his pressure in the 10th as Solis slowly showed signs of fatigue. – GMANews.TV