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Brian Viloria wins tune-up fight, gears up for big Macau fight card in May

Brian Viloria gears up for a tuneup match against Juan Herrera. (Top Rank/Mary Ann Owen)
Mary Ann Owen / Top Rank

Brian Viloria came back nicely from a one-year hiatus from boxing as he now gears up for a bigger fight against a yet-to-be-named opponent for Macau in May.

Viloria got a good workout as he defeated Juan Herrera of Puerto Rico via unanimous decision. The three judges scored the fight 98-92, 98-92, and 97-93.


The Hawaiian Punch wobbled Herrera early in the second round with a right to the head. He then invested in body shots, especially on the left hooks he is popular for. Herrera was a game opponent as he didn’t stop trying to win the fight but it was clear that the talent level is just not the same.

In the end Viloria, cruised to an easy victory. Although a knockout win could have been more exciting for the fans, Viloria wanted to test his stamina by lasting the entire ten rounds. In his two recent losses, Viloria gassed out in the final rounds so his strong finish is definitely a good sign.

With the win, Viloria raised his record to 33 wins against four losses with 19 knockouts. Herrera on the other hand fell to nine wins with eight losses.


Viloria is expected to get a title shot for his Macau fight but it is highly improbable that it will be against Juan Francisco Estrada, the fighter who took away his WBO and WBA belts last year.

“That’s one of the fights [rematch with Estrada] that I wanted to happen already for my next fight,” Viloria said in an earlier interview with Steve Kim of Max Boxing. “But obviously [Estrada’s] camp didn’t want to go up against me, saying that they wanted to take easier fights before getting to me again.”

The other world champions in the flyweight division are Akira Yaegashi of Japan who holds the WBC belt and Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand who is the IBF champion.