Rusty Viloria outlasts durable foe

MANILA, Philippines -  Former WBC/IBF lightflyweight and WBA/WBO flyweight champion Brian Viloria looked rusty but did more than enough to thwart Mexico’s durable Ruben (Hurricane) Montoya via a unanimous eight-round decision in Tokyo last Thursday.

Viloria, 36, may not be ready for an immediate shot at another world title but his Los Angeles manager Gary Gittelsohn told The Star yesterday he will continue to work towards that goal. The speculation is that once he’s back in tip-top shape, Viloria will call out WBA flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka for a showdown.

Against Montoya, Viloria found a tough nut to crack. The Mexican was coming off a loss by technical decision to former WBC lightflyweight ruler Pedro Guevara and didn’t step back in pushing Viloria to the limit. There were no knockdowns in Viloria’s Japanese debut. The three Japanese judges saw Viloria a clear winner. Tetsuya Iida scored it 78-74 with six rounds for Viloria and two for Montoya. Akihiko Katsuragi had it 77-75 with five rounds for Viloria and three for Montoya while Kazuo Abe saw it 78-75 with five rounds for Viloria, two for Montoya and one even.

“I thought Brian was a bit rusty,” said Gittelsohn who was at ringside. “But frankly, after a year and a half layoff, I didn’t expect more. Montoya was a terrific opponent. In fact, he was the perfect opponent, a tough, durable fighter who gave his all in a losing effort. He was game and provided eight solid rounds.”

Montoya, 31, had won two in a row before bowing to Guevara and the former Mexican superflyweight champion was determined to bring the fight to the Hawaiian Punch, now promoted by Akihiko Honda’s Teiken group. It was only Montoya’s second appearance outside of Mexico after dropping a 12-round decision to Paul Butler in a WBA/WBO Intercontinental superflyweight title bout in Liverpool in 2013. The loss to Viloria dipped his record to 14-5-1, with 9 KOs. Four of Montoya’s five setbacks were on points.

Gittelsohn said Viloria will be back at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles as soon as he returns from Tokyo. “Brian still has a way to go to regain elite form but the win over Montoya was a respectable first step on the road to rebuilding,” he said. “We know what he needs to work on. Brian will go back to the gym immediately to continue his rebuilding in the quest for yet another world title.” Viloria will likely figure in at least one more tune-up bout before challenging Ioka.

Both protagonists scaled 113 3/4 pounds at Wednesday’s weigh-in with the fight set at 114, two over the flyweight limit. Viloria hadn’t fought since losing to Roman (Chocolatito) Gonzalez in a bid for the WBC flyweight crown at Madison Square Garden in New York City in October 2015.  The win over Montoya raised his record to 37-5, with 22 KOs.

Ioka, who is Viloria’s ultimate target, has a record of 21-1, with 13 KOs, and wrested the WBA flyweight crown from Argentina’s Juan Carlos Reveco on a majority decision in 2015. He has since repulsed four challengers, including Reveco by a technical knockout in a rematch. Ioka held the WBC/WBA minimumweight and WBA lightflyweight titles before picking up the WBA flyweight belt. He has fought only one Filipino, Albert Alcoy, in his career and stopped the Marinduque brawler in the ninth round in Osaka in 2010.