Fighting back

With his soon-to-be wife bawling her eyes out at his bedside, Brian Viloria made a decision that changed his life forever. Nearly three years ago, Viloria’s second world title reign ended as quickly as it started.

A hushed crowd at the Cuneta Astrodome in the Philippines sat in shock after an exhausted Viloria failed to successfully defend the IBF light flyweight title, losing to Carlos Tamara by 12th-round TKO in stunning fashion.

Unable to walk on his own, Viloria eventually collapsed in the dressing room and was rushed to a local hospital.

He was treated for dehydration and extreme exhaustion, and spent the next two nights in a hospital bed.

It was there that Viloria, soon to be married, soon to turn 30 and already a two-time world champion and former Olympian, contemplated hanging up the gloves for good.

"Sitting at that hospital being the only one there with my wife at my side crying, having her go through that, to me something lit up and I’m like, ‘I can’t have her go through this again, I can’t have myself go through this,’ " Viloria recalled.

"That became the turning point in my life."

Six months later, Viloria got back in the ring. He closed the year in Hawaii, where he married his longtime girlfriend, Erica.

The following July, Viloria was back in the islands, fighting for a world title once again as a "new" man. Instead of retiring, he cleaned up his act, vowing never to take a beating like the one he took from Tamara.

The late nights out, the drinking, all of that was no longer a part of Viloria’s life.

"The Hawaiian Punch" was going to give boxing one last try, one last run, one last go at realizing the potential he showed as the young star of the 2000 Olympic team.

But even Viloria couldn’t have anticipated what was about to happen next.

WITH THE LOS ANGELES SPORTS ARENA crowd on its feet in a frenzied state, Viloria raised his hands in triumph.

His fight two weeks ago with Hernan Marquez wasn’t officially over, but he knew it was about to be.

The referee motioned for the fight to continue and Viloria continued the onslaught for a few more seconds.

A white towel thrown into the ring by Robert Garcia, Viloria’s former trainer, was the signal that the onslaught could stop.

Viloria fell to the mat and let out a yell before his corner, including longtime manager Gary Gittelsohn, rushed the ring to hug and congratulate him.

It had been more than 50 years since world titles at the 112-pound level had been unified. But on this night, Viloria’s 10th-round TKO of Marquez, who had only lost once in 35 professional bouts, ended the debate.

Viloria, at 32, is the best 112-pound fighter in the world today, and his WBA and WBO belts prove it.

"To unify the world titles, which hadn’t been done in the last 50 years in my weight division — I don’t think people know the scope of things and what I’ve been doing these past couple of years," Viloria said. "My career is rejuvenated. … I feel renewed ever since that fight with Tamara and with each fight, you see my style getting better and better."

"MY GOAL IS CRACKING the top 10 pound-for-pound, which I am really close to doing," Viloria said.

He’s already beat one guy on the list in probably the best win of his career.

Viloria was only 1-2 in fights defending a world title when he stepped into the ring against Giovani Segura last December.

Segura had recorded 24 of his 28 wins by knockout and was Ring Magazine’s No. 9 pound-for-pound fighter on a list that included Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and the Klitschko brothers.

"I don’t think anybody outside me and my camp thought I could win that fight," Viloria said.

By the third round, a giant welt had formed on the right side of Segura’s face. It was the size of a softball by the time the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round.

In Viloria’s three recent title defenses, only Marquez made it to the 10th round, and that fight ended just a minute later.

Both Segura and Marquez were ranked ahead of Viloria by Ring Magazine before their fights.

Now, it’s Viloria standing alone at the top.

SO WHAT’S NEXT for the boxer from Waipahu?

Undefeated light flyweight Roman Gonzalez, who won on the undercard of Viloria/Marquez two weeks ago, seemed the likely opponent.

Although Gonzalez expressed a willingness to move up in weight, Viloria hinted that the Gonzalez camp is having second thoughts following Viloria’s impressive win over Marquez.

Milan Melindo is the WBO’s mandated challenger but doesn’t provide the big-name, big-money fight Viloria hopes to cash in on.

And therein lies his biggest problem.

Viloria’s fight with Marquez could only be seen online in most of the United States and wasn’t available locally on pay-per-view.

Networks like HBO and Showtime have notoriously been against featuring fighters in lower weight classes.

Viloria could have fought on the PPV undercard of a Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight in October, but Marquez wouldn’t agree to it.

Top Rank offered Viloria a spot on the undercard of next Saturday’s Pacquiao/Juan Manuel Marquez bout, but the financial terms weren’t enough to justify pushing back the Marquez fight a third time.

A growing swell of support on the Internet, including from ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael, along with an impressive string of victories, make Viloria a likely candidate to change the networks’ minds regarding lower weight classes.

"It’s a real possibility," Viloria said. "If I keep fighting the way I’ve been fighting — continue to bring out fights like that — it’s going to be real hard for the networks to ignore it."

"UNDISPUTED" IS A TERM rarely used in boxing. It’s reserved for the greatest in the sport, and these days, with four different world titles in each division, it’s something rarely achieved.

But now that Viloria has two belts, he’s halfway there. And "there" is where he wants to end his career.

"I want to go and unify all the titles," he said. "I don’t think that’s been done since Mike Tyson.

"It’d be cool to be undisputed. I want to be remembered as one of the best fighters in the world."