BRIAN Viloria gets to settle an unfinished business with Omar Soto of Mexico as the two face each other again in the main event of Saturday’s Top Rank/Uni Mas (Sunday, Manila time) at the Florentine Gardens in Hollywood, California.
The 10-round super-flyweight rematch comes five years after Viloria’s controversial split decision win over Soto at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The veteran Fil-Am was then coming off a 12-round technical knockout loss against Carlos Tamara at the Cuneta Astrodome to yield the International Boxing Federation (IBF) light flyweight title.
Soto, a native of Mexico City, was handpicked by Viloria’s handlers to be his opponent i his comeback fight in the hope of helping the Sydney Olympian gain back his confidence as he tried to restore his shattered pride and image.
But Soto proved to be a tough nut to crack, giving Viloria hell for the entire 10 rounds before escaping with the win via scores of 97-93, 97-93, 93-97.
Now the 34-year-old Viloria (35-4, 21 KOs) hopes to erase any doubt this time as he eyes a repeat against his Mexican rival (23-11-2, 7 KOs) in a bid to have one final crack at winning another world title.
A three-time world champion, Viloria tipped the scale at 112.8 lbs. during Friday’s official weigh-in. Soto came in at 114.4 lbs.
Since losing the World Boxing Association (WBA)/World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight crown to Juan Francisco Estrada in Macau two years ago, Viloria has been on a winning roll after getting past his last three opponents, the latest of which was a fourth-round demolition of Armando Vazquez in Glendale, California.
Soto on the other hand, lost three of his last four matches, including back-to-back against Ulises Lara and Toshiyuki Igarashi in 2013 yet.