By Chris LaBate

Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, Hawaii - In another fight of the year candidate, Brian Viloria (29-3, 16KOs) captured the WBO flyweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Julio Cesar "Pingo" Miranda (35-6-1, 28KOs) in a war with high drama and non-stop action. The scores were 98-91, 96-93 and 97-93. [Yes, those were the announced scores which don't make sense since this was a twelve round fight]

The war began with Miranda going down in the first round. He had trouble with Viloria's fast hands in the second and third, but he started to close the distance and hit Viloria with a lot of good punches in the fourth round. Viloria fought back with combinations of his own as Miranda taunted him to trade punches.

Miranda was trying to chase down Viloria in the fight round. Viloria was picking him off with quick punches when he jumped in. Miranda continued to stalk him down and move forward. Viloria was fast on his feet, working a jab and trying to slip the champion's combinations. The sixth round was a war with both boxers trading hard shots and control switched between both fighters at different points in the round.

They went back to trading punches in the seventh round. The action was non-stop in the eight. Both boxers were landing some heavy, heavy punches with both hands and both of them buckled at various points. Miranda appeared to be on the verge of going down, but then he came firing back and began to gain a small edge with the power shot connects, but viloria was always firing back. Viloria's right eye opened up and began to flow blood.

Miranda continued to come forward in the ninth round and walked right into some very hard straight punches. Viloria stayed with the strategy of catching Miranda with punches as he came in. He stunned Miranda bad and for the first time he began to walk Miranda down with hard punches that were landing with high accuracy. Viloria let Miranda off the hook and the champion closed the distance and started going hard to the body.

Viloria was pumping the jab in the tenth. Miranda closed the gap quick and they started trading punches to the head and body on the inside. Miranda stunned Viloria with a few hard punches in the final minute. Viloria looked like he was fading and tried to hold on while the clock ran down.

Miranda was on the attack in the eleventh round. Viloria was doing his best to stay away with Miranda chasing him down and landing punches to the head and body. Viloria seemed to be out of steam and doing whatever possible to run the clock. Miranda knew the fight was close and he went right after Viloria and pressed him against the ropes in the final minute. They traded hard shots for some heavy toe to toe action for the final twenty seconds.

The twelfth round started with an inside battle. Miranda was getting the better of the action. Viloria looked exhausted but he was still punching back when the openings were there. They were letting everything hang out in the final minute. Viloria was moving around and practically running to stay away from Miranda who was trying to land something big, but couldn't catch the challenger.