LOS ANGELES -- Hawaii's Brian Viloria knocked out Eric Ortiz
in the first round Saturday night to win the WBC light flyweight
championship at Staples Center.
Viloria was fighting for the first time since May, when Ruben
Contreras quit in the sixth round and had a seizure soon after.
Contreras accepted Viloria's invitation to attend Saturday's fight
and sat ringside.
Viloria and Ortiz, the defending champion from Mexico City, had
a few brief exchanges in the first round, but neither was
especially aggressive and both looked to be settling in for a long
fight.
But Viloria connected with a pair of right hands and floored
Ortiz in the final second. Ortiz did not get up until well after
the bell.
"Everything just happened so quickly," Viloria said. "The
fight with Contreras lit a fire inside of me. I dedicate this fight
to Ruben Contreras."
In their May 28th bout, Contreras quit, complaining of a
headache. He had a seizure less than 10 minutes later and needed
surgery to stop a hemorrhage around his brain. The 32-year-old
flyweight from Caudal Juarez, Mexico, was in a weeks-long coma but
has made significant progress.
He and Viloria embraced one another and posed for pictures after
the fight.
The 24-year-old Viloria improved to 18-0 with 12 knockouts, and
Ortiz dropped to 24-5-1 with 16 KOs. Both fighters weighed 108
pounds.