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Can Brian Viloria bounce back one more time?

Former two-division, three time world champion Brian Viloria lost his WBO and WBA flyweight world titles in a gallant slam-bang battle with Mexican warrior Juan Francisco Estrada at the fabulous Cotai Arena of the luxurious Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau, China late Saturday.

Estrada who amazingly appeared to get stronger as the fight wore on and continued to throw big shots until the end, won a split decision which in itself appeared questionable in the face of Estrada’s relentless punching in the second half of the fight.

There were those who questioned judge Levi Martinez 115-113 scorecard in favor of Viloria as against the 116-111 card of Michael Pernick and 117-111 of Francisco Martinez.

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When it was all over, the large crowd of Filipinos who, up to that point had cheered themselves hoarse following the smashing knockout victories of world No.1 ranked Milan Melindo from the famed ALA Promotions and the young Penalosa brothers, Dave and Dodie Boy Jr, left the venue pained by the loss of Viloria.

The beating he took from Estrada, who is nicknamed “Bad Ass”, clearly showed. Viloria’s face was swollen, he had stitches on both eyebrows which were cut and his mouth was swollen and askew from the inexplicable pounding he took from the Mexican.

Viloria himself acknowledged this at a post-fight press conference when he apologized for how he looked. He said “sorry I don’t look the same when I first came here. We put our lives on the line every night in the sport of boxing for your entertainment and I hope you guys enjoyed a great night of boxing. All my congratulations to Estrada and his team for putting up a great fight tonight. He is a worthy champion. It was a very close fight. I hope we have a rematch down the line.”

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum acknowledged the gallantry of Viloria when he introduced him as “the guy with a big heart” to rounds of applause from the media.

Arum then made the point that “his battle, that’s all forgotten as everybody looks forward to the fight that’s going to happen in the summer on another terrific fight card.”

Arum announced that Estrada “has to fight mandatory challenger Melindo” and then he turned to Brian and said “then you can fight the winner” as Viloria responded “let’s do that.”

In what was a direct appeal to the Estrada camp and promoter Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions in Mexico, Viloria said “Give me a chance to fight for my world title again. Reciprocate my gesture in giving you a shot at my title” to which Beltran replied “Absolutely. No problem. Done.”

Viloria noted that everybody was a winner and added he hoped “we have more fights like this out here in China” stating how much he and his team enjoyed their stay at the Venetian.”

Addressing his countrymen in the Philippines, Viloria turned emotional when he said “I wish to thank everybody in Manila. Sorry I didn’t get the win.”

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The fighter who is known for his resiliency, fighting heart and ability to come back from defeat promised “I’ll be back. Everybody knows me as the ‘Comeback Kid’. I’ve lost three times but I’ll come back strong and prove to everybody in the boxing world I’ll be a force to reckon with. I’ll get over it and become champ once again.”

Viloria’s record provides substance for his promise of a comeback.

At the Staples Center on September 10, 2005 Viloria scored a spectacular 1st round knockout over Eric Ortiz of Mexico to win the WBC light flyweight title following an 8th round TKO victory over another Mexican, Lupe Contreras , on May 28th that year in which Contreras fell into a coma and had to undergo brain surgery.

Miraculously, Contreras recovered well and had a special ringside seat at the Viloria-Ortiz title fight where Viloria, in an emotional gesture went to Contreras on his way to the ring and both men embraced as Contreras and his wife smiled and wished Brian the best of luck.

Viloria didn’t need the luck. All he needed was a cracking right hand to win his first world title with just one second remaining in the opening round.

After successfully defending his title with a fairly lopsided decision over former champion Jose Antonio Aguirre at The Aladdin in Las Vegas, Viloria lost his title in a somewhat controversial decision to Mexico’s rugged Omar Nino Romero by a unanimous twelve-round decision on August 10, 2006.

In a rematch at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on November 18, 2006 the fight ended in a majority draw but was revised to a “No Decision” after the Mexican, in the customary post-fight medical, was found to have used an illegal drug.

With Romero suspended for one year the title was declared vacant and Viloria was given a shot at another Mexican, the redoubtable Edgar Sosa to whom he dropped a majority decision at the Alamadome in San Antonio, Texas on April 14, 2007.

As he is wont to do, Viloria regained his standings in the world ratings with a five-fight winning streak before he earned a crack at IBF champion Ulises Solis in a fight card at the “Mecca of Philippine Sports & Entertainment” – the Araneta Coliseum.

Viloria was sensational. He out-boxed the highly-talented Solis, a hard-nosed Mexican before putting him away at 2:56 of the 11th round with a devastating, perfectly-timed, right hook to the jaw that sent Solis crashing to the canvas to be counted out by international referee Bruce McTavish.

In an attempt to revive boxing in Hawaii, Viloria defended his title against Jesus Iribe, a big, strong Mexican at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu and put on a show for the fans to win a twelve-round unanimous decision, slugging it out with Iribe in the final round “just to entertain the fans “ he said later, when he didn’t really have to take risks.

Fighting before a hometown crowd at the Cuneta Astrodome in January 2010, Viloria appeared to be coasting to victory against Carlos Tamara of Panama. After eight rounds as he was ahead on the scorecards of all three judges. Then, in a sudden twist, the weeklong struggle and sacrifice to make the weight kicked in and as he faded in the championship rounds began to use his speed to advantage.

When a totally drained Viloria took a series of punches while on the ropes in the final round referee Bruce McTavish, much as he probably didn’t wish to, did what was right and stopped the fight at 1:45 of the final round although the punches of Tamara had no power.

Viloria, dehydrated and totally fatigued, collapsed in his dressing room and had to be rushed to the Makati Medical Center where a panel of experts pronounced him fit to resume his career after a few months rest.

Viloria discussed his future with his charming girlfriend at that time (now his wife) Erika Navarro, a California nurse and his lifetime manager, the extremely likeable Gary Gittlesohn who treats Brian like his own son.

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A decision was reached – Viloria would return as a flyweight where he was comfortable as he demonstrated with five straight victories before Gittelsohn, burying his hands in his pockets at considerable cost, enticed champion Julio Cesar “Pingo” Miranda to defend his WBO flyweight title at the Blaisdell Center on July 16, 2011 where Viloria was crowned champion once again with a comfortable unanimous twelve-round decision.

There were muted fears among Filipino fight fans and the media when Viloria decided to defend his title at the Ynares Center in Pasig against the power-punching Giovanni Segura who, at that time, was ranked No. 8 in the prestigious Ring Magazine pound-for-pound roster.

Viloria overcame the power and aggressiveness of Segura with a boxing master-class, ripping the Mexican with a variety of punches that resulted in a puffed-up face and an ugly swelling on his forehead that forced referee Samuel Viruet to decide that there was no way Segura could continue and called a halt at 0:29 seconds of the 8th round.

Viloria had re-established himself as one of the great little men in boxing which has, in the absence of any exciting heavyweights, depended on the lower weights to pick up the slack and showcase the unquestionable talent of fighters from the Philippines, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and Colombia.

It was then time for revenge as Viloria defended his title against the sometimes dirty Omar Nino Romero. It was a totally different story in their third showdown.

Viloria out-thought and out-boxed Romero to rip him apart before referee Mike Ortega said he had seen enough and stopped the one-sided contest at 2:07 of the 8th round. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Brian well ahead on their scorecards.

Glenn Feldman had Viloria up by a shutout 80-70 while Atty. Danrex Tapdasan also had Viloria by a shutout 80-71 while Carlos Ortiz Jr had Viloria winning 79-72.

One Mexican after another lined-up against Viloria and most often paid the price. On November 17, 2012 the awesome punching machine Hernan “Tyson” Marquez whose nickname said it all, faced Viloria in a unification battle at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on November 17, 2012.

Promoter Beltran exuded confidence that the world title would be back in Mexico but he didn’t reckon with the courageous heart of Brian Viloria.

In an action-packed war which was among the clashes considered as “Fight of the Year” Viloria, counter-punching magnificently against the extremely aggressive Marquez nailed him with some big shots to drop the Mexican in rounds one, five and ten before referee Dave Mendoza embraced the groggy Marquez and told him it was over. The time was 1:01 of round ten.

Viloria survived a war with Estrada and although his knees buckled in Round 10, gutted it out to the end in typical fashion.

Speaking through his bruised lips Viloria told Yahoo Philippines on the corridor of the Cotai Arena , “I’ll be back because I’m a warrior. I will be champion again.”

His wife Erika told us, “Brian is alright. Don’t worry. He’ll be back.”

Their seeming confidence was obviously based on Viloria’s history as a fighter who bucked adversity to come back and again and regain his lofty position as a world champion.

Question is, at age 32, can he do it one more time? Only time will tell.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.