Viloria Decisions Bernal

In a less than impressive performance Brian Viloria (20-2, 12 KOs), now competing as a super flyweight, won an eight-round unanimous decision over Jose Garcia Bernal (27-11-1, 18 KOs) last night at the Alameda Swap Meet, in Los Angeles, California. The final judges’ scores were 78-72, 78-72 and 78-72. The scores, however, don’t indicate how close the fight was, as I hard Bernal winning the fight four rounds to three going into the final round. In the 8th round, Viloria knocked Bernal down with a running right hand to the midsection. Previous to that, Bernal had lost a point after being penalized for losing his mouthpiece.

The win breaks a two fight losing streak - three, if you count Viloria’ majority decision loss to Omar Nino Romero in November 2006, which was ruled a no contest after Romero tested positive for drugs after the fight - that dates back to August 2006. Weighing in at 115 lbs, the biggest of his career, Viloria’s once speedy punches were considerably slower at the heavier weight, and his power was ineffective against Bernal. In fact, Bernal was the harder puncher of the two. For the most part, Viloria got out-worked in almost every round, and would attempt to throw a flurry at the end of the round in hopes of stealing them.

However, his punches had zero power on them, and he’d mostly miss when he threw the quick flurries. After the first round, in which Viloria won with his constant jabs, he took a lot of big shots from Bernal in rounds two and three, losing both on my card. In rounds four and five, Viloria came back to briefly take control of the fight with his jabs. He was, however, still get hit with far too many hooks from Bernal. In rounds six and seven, Bernal retook control of the fight, using powerful hooks and constant pressure to easily win both rounds. During this time, Viloria looked totally shot as a fighter. It looked bad, considering that the 37 year-old Bernal’s best years are well behind, and even in his prime, he wasn’t considered a top level fighter.

In the 8th round, Bernal came out strong and was controlling the action when the referee David Mendoza suddenly stopped the action after Bernal lost his mouthpiece and deducted one point from him. After this, Bernal fought even harder, and was on his way to winning the round when Viloria came running at him from the across the ring, landing a hard right hand to Bernal’s midsection, knocking him to the canvas. Upon getting up, Bernal was under constant attack from Viloria for the remainder of the round, throwing mostly body shots. Though he tried to knock him out, Viloria’s weak shots just didn’t have enough power in order to bother Bernal much, aside from the body shots.

All in all, it was a poor performance from Viloria. He looks finished as a fighter despite being only 26 years-old. If he’s struggling with fighters of the class of Bernal, the future doesn’t look too bright for Viloria. At this point, I don’t see him beating any of the top 10 fighters in the super flyweight division, and I see him quickly moving back down after losing a fight or two.