Viloria retains title by unanimous decision

Banal, Laurente also win via UD

MANILA – Brian “the Hawaiian Punch” Viloria fought until the very end to successfully defend his IBF junior flyweight champion against Jesus Iribe on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Filipino-American Viloria triumphed in his hometown via unanimous decision with the judges scoring 118-110, 117-112 and 117-111 in favor of him.

According to Mark Vester of BoxingScene.com, Viloria got the upper hand in the earlier rounds.

“Iribe did some better work in round four but Viloria was still landing the better and more impressive punches with his quicker hands,” wrote Vester.

“Some good flurries by Viloria at the start of the fifth and then he landed a huge right that stunned Iribe who fought back after being clocked,” he added. “Iribe was stunned to the body in the sixth and again he fought back off the ropes.”

The two fighters continued to taunt each other as they threw punches, the report said.

“A right hand at the start of the tenth stunned Iribe. He backed away and then came forward to exchange body punches,” noted Vester, adding that a “big left by Iribe at the end of the round shook up Viloria and they exchanged some big shots.”

In the final round, Iribe and Viloria “came out throwing bombs at the start of the twelfth.”

Viloria’s win-loss record is now at 26-2, with 15 knockouts. Iribe, on the other hand, is at 15-6, with nine knockouts.

Two other Filipinos featured in the “Island Assault” fight card were AJ “Bazooka” Banal and Dennis Laurente, who also scored unanimous decision victories over their foes.

Banal defeated Jose Angel Beranza of Mexico in their 10-round bout while Laurente beat another Mexican, Zaid “El Exterminador” Zavaleta, also in 10 rounds.

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