Viloria Is a Knockout in Return

Amid the emotional outcome of his previous bout and the frustration of a delay in his championship fight, Brian Viloria was eager to step back into the ring.

Viloria (18-0, 12 knockouts, one no decision), who trained for a 12-round fight, wasn’t in the ring for long Saturday at Staples Center, earning the World Boxing Council light-flyweight championship with a knockout at 2 minutes 59 seconds of the first round, defeating title holder Eric Ortiz (24-5-1, 16 KOs).

Viloria, 24, described the championship victory as secondary to seeing his last opponent, Ruben Contreras, seated near ringside.

“I was choked up to see Ruben in the stands,” Viloria said. “I almost cried and held it back. I’m fighting for the world championship, I couldn’t look like a crybaby.”

In his previous fight, in May, Viloria defeated Contreras in a sixth-round knockout. The euphoria of the victory evaporated when Contreras was sent to a hospital because of blood clots in his brain and was put in a medically induced coma.

Contreras has since regained much of his mental awareness and muscle control.

“People can see what I went through,” Viloria said. “I had to fight not just physically but mentally.”

Viloria, who dedicated the fight to Contreras and embraced him before entering the ring, connected with a right hook to Ortiz’s head.

Ortiz was knocked down, tried to rise and fell to the canvas again. He was defending the title for the first time since taking it from Jose Antonio Aguirre in March.

“I was expecting a 12-round fight,” Viloria said. “That right hand just landed on the money.”

Viloria, a Hawaii native, quickly established himself as the aggressor, landing several swift jabs.

Vanes Martirosyan of Glendale (4-0, 1 KO) won a six-round unanimous decision over Gerardo Prieto (4-3-1, 0 KOs) in a super-welterweight fight.