ASSOCIATED PRESS WBC light flyweight champion Brian Viloria of Waipahu landed a left to the face of Jose Antonio Aguirre during the eighth round last night in Las Vegas.

Viloria defends world title

LAS VEGAS » It didn't come with the highlight-reel knockout that Brian Viloria has become known for, but the "Hawaiian Punch" was still successful in his first defense of his WBC light flyweight title.

Viloria was never threatened and put a hurting on Jose Antonio Aguirre before winning the 12-round bout by unanimous decision last night at the Aladdin Casino. Viloria won the fight 116-112 on two scorecards and 117-111 on the other.

"This was a great experience for me," Viloria said. "Last year I only got in seven rounds total, so this is a fight that I can look at and really take away a lot of things from."

Viloria, who won the title last September by knocking out Eric Ortiz in the first round, nearly ended this fight the same way, catching Aguirre with a huge left hook a minute into the fight that staggered the challenger. He followed it up with a series of combinations that seemed to have Aguirre rocked, but as was the theme throughout the fight, Viloria couldn't put Aguirre on the canvas.

"He came in prepared and in good shape," Viloria said. "When you come in as good of shape as he was, you can take those types of punches."

Viloria remained undefeated in his pro career, running his record to 19-0 with 12 knockouts. Aguirre fell to 33-5 with 20 KOs.

After an active opening, Viloria paced himself through the middle rounds, throwing fewer power shots to the head and working over the body of Aguirre. By the eighth round, the challenger's face was swollen and he was bleeding from the nose and the mouth.

"This was a great fight because it allowed me to show my speed, my strength, and that I can box," Viloria said.

Now that Viloria's first world-title defense is in the books, he is already looking forward to doing it again. Viloria said his manager, Gary Gittelsohn, and promoter Bob Arum have already begun discussing the whens and wheres of his next title defense and places like Hawaii, the Philippines and Las Vegas have been bouncing off the promoter's walls. Nothing has been determined yet, but the strategy around Viloria's near future will likely center on WBC flyweight champion Jorge Arce of Mexico (43-3-1), who was ringside for the fight.

The first 16 fights of Viloria's career were at flyweight, where he was ranked No. 1 by the WBC before moving to the light flyweight class.

Arce is a former WBC light flyweight champion who moved to flyweight last year after getting an opportunity to fight for the vacant title. He knocked out Angel Antonio Priolo for the belt and has successfully defended the title three times since, with two of the wins coming by TKO. Viloria earned his belt after Arce vacated it for the flyweight strap.

Meanwhile, the opportunity to fight in Hawaii is one Viloria looks forward to. The Waipahu native's last fight in his home state was in April 2003, when he defeated Valentin Leon by TKO in the eighth round.

"I haven't fought there in a few years, so it has been long overdue," Viloria said.

"I've been on the road a lot, so right now I'm planning on going home and resting for a bit."