By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former WBC light flyweight champion Brian "Hawaiian Punch" Viloria returns to the ring when he battles Jose Garcia Bernal in Los Angeles on January 4.
Garcia isn’t expected to pose a threat to the former world champion who won the title with a stunning first round knockout of Eric Ortiz on September 10, 2005 as he is 37 years old and has reportedly lost three of his last four fights.
Bernal has a record of 27-9-1 with 18 knockouts but five of his defeats were by stoppage. In his last fight Bernal lost by a twelfth round KO to Juan Mecedes in a battle for the WBO Latino super flyweight title.
In his only win in his last four fights was against Jose Luis Bolanos whom he knocked out in the second round of a scheduled six round bout. However, Bernal’s opponent Bolanos, according to boxrec.com had a miserable record of 0 wins and 21 defeats, 16 of them by knockout.
Viloria who is ten years younger than Bernal at 27 has a record of 19-2 with 12 knockouts and is coming off a twelve round majority decision loss to Edgar Sosa in a clash for the vacant WBC title which Omar Nino won from Viloria but was deprived of the crown after he tested positive for a banned substance after their rematch on November 18, 2006.
Nino is scheduled to face OPBF champion Juanito Rubillar sometime early next year in a world title eliminator with plans for the fight to be staged in Manila.
