By Jim Dower: Former WBC light flyweight champion Brian Viloria (22-2, 13 KOs) stopped journeyman fighter Fred Hernto Valdez (10-18, 5 KOs) in the 3rd round of a scheduled 10-round bout on Saturday night at the Plaza Monumental, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Viloria, 27, initially hurt Valdez with a big right hand earlier in the round, and then later on finished the matter with a powerful left hook the body. Valdez, 32, went down in a delayed reaction after getting hit with the body shot. He bravely made it up at the count of seven, but the referee didn’t like how he looked and promptly stopped the fight to prevent him from having to take any further punishment from Viloria.
The fight was one-sided to begin with and it’s unclear why Viloria decided it was a good idea to fight Valdez to begin with. So far, it’s been two years since Viloria lost his WBC light flyweight title to Omar Nino Romero and a year since Viloria lost a majority decision to Edgar Sosa while attempting to regain his former WBC light flyweight championship. Now three fights later, it seems as if it’s time already for Viloria to get back on the horse and start fighting top level competition once again.
It was immediately clear that Viloria had too much speed, class and power for Valdez in the first round as he pasted him with repeated left hands to the head, hooks to the body and jabs. Valdez’s hand speed was poor to say the least, which made it easy for Viloria to get out of the way of the few attempts at punches that Valdez made. Believe me, Valdez rarely tried to ignite his own offense, mostly just content to absorb the punishment from Viloria.
When Valdez did land, however, he looked pretty good. His punches had excellent power and his form was also quite good, especially his hooks to the body. It got Viloria’s attention each time he’d land. Near the end of the 1st round, Valdez landed some powerful uppercuts to the head of Viloria that snapped his head back. Indeed, the first round ended with the southpaw Valdez landing well with his left hand to the head and body of Viloria.
Using mainly his left hand, Viloria continued dominating Valdez in the 2nd round. He used a lot of in and out movement, hitting Valdez and then quickly getting out of range to prevent him from answering with his own shots. It was good to see Viloria finally working more on his defense because he often takes a lot of punishment in his bouts, which is why he’s struggled when fighting top level opponents. Valdez attempted to get close to Viloria, hoping to smother his power somewhat. I didn’t work, though, for Viloria began to pound Valdez to the body and land hooks to the head at close range. At the end of the round, Viloria unloaded with a huge flurry of shots, catching Valdez cleanly with almost every shot.
Valdez started off well in the 3rd, hitting Viloria with hard left hands. Viloria not one to take it without answering back, fired off right-left combination, then another right hand that staggered Valdez and caused him to back away. Rather than move in and finish him off, Viloria seemed to let Valdez off the hook, as if he wanted him to stay in the fight as long as he could in order perhaps that Viloria could get more practice. Valdez came back shortly thereafter with a combination to the body. Viloria then fired back to rights to Valdez’s body, and then a perfectly placed left hook to the liver that dropped Valdez to the canvas. Valdez made it to his feet, seeming to be okay, but the referee stopped the fight anyway at 2:10 of the 3rd round.
For his part, Viloria still looks nothing like his former championship he showed in 2005. He looks slower now and his physique now carries a coat of fat on it that wasn’t there three years ago. He’s looked pudgy for the past year, and looks ill-suited for the flyweight division. Not sure if this is by design of lack of training, but whatever the case I doubt that it’s helping him any in terms of his ability to fight. As for his lost speed, that will probably not be returning.
At 27, he’s growing older and will have to rely more on his feet movement, his chin and power to get him through the tough bouts. He really needs to consider staying at light flyweight because I can’t see him being able to compete as a flyweight. A champion like Nonito Donaire or Omar Narvaez, would absolutely destroy Viloria if he ever makes it that far.