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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Friday January 13, 2017
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MANILA – After an almost one-year boxing hiatus, Filipino-Hawaiian fighter Brian Viloria is set to revive his career in the ring beginning with matches in Japan early this year.
The Waipahu, Hawaii-native Viloria said he decided to revive his stalled boxing career by signing a promotional deal with the Japan-based Teiken Promotions.
“I got to think about things, where I wanted to go in terms of my career,” said the 36-year-old Viloria. “I spent a little more time with my son who’s growing up and got me refocused.”
“It’s a lighter weight division, so all those fighters are based out in Asia and it’s really tough to get out here in the United States in my weight division. So we’re going to try to take a crack at it in Asia in Japan, Philippines, China, see where it goes,” he added.
Viloria last stepped into the ring on Oct. 17, 2015 when he failed to capture the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight championship, suffering a technical knockout loss to Mexican Roman Gonzalez.
Prior to that, Viloria was a two-division world boxing champion as he previously held the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight belts and the WBC and International Boxing Federation (IBF) light flyweight titles.
Viloria, who is known for his moniker “The Hawaiian Punch,” has an impressive 36-5-0 win-loss-draw ring record, including 22 knockout wins. He won four consecutive matches before losing to Gonzalez in 2015./PN
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