SAN ANTONIO — Brian Viloria thought his fight was going so well yesterday against Edgar Sosa that midway through the bout he shuffled his feet and smiled as he evaded punches along the ropes.

"I thought I was doing enough to win," Viloria said. "I thought I won the first eight rounds easily."

But Viloria broke out of his defensive, counter-punching style and tried to initiate action with Sosa in the 10th round. He lost the final three rounds on all the judges' cards.

And he lost his second chance to regain the WBC light flyweight title in a majority-decision loss to Sosa (27-5) of Mexico City.

The fight was on the line in the 12th, and even Viloria, of Waipahu, admitted he lost the final rounds.

Two of the referee's cards had fight go 115-113 to Sosa. The other card was a 114-114 draw.

They were fighting for the title that became vacant after champion Omar Nino failed a drug test in the November rematch with Viloria that ended in a draw.

Viloria, a 2000 Olympic team member, won the WBC's 108-pound title with a first-round knockout over Eric Ortiz on Sept. 10, 2005. He lost it in the first fight with Nino in August.

"But I thought I edged this fight out," Viloria said. "In the final three rounds, I punched more because I was trying to see if he would make a mistake, swing away and try to make it look like he was winning easy."

Sosa won the final round easy. He threw a flurry of punches, and Viloria had little answer.

Sosa spoke with the aid of a translator, but no translation was needed when he was told the final addition of the judges' cards.

He laughed.

"After the fourth or fifth round, I won this fight easy," Sosa said.

The seventh and eighth rounds were best for Viloria. In one exchange during the seventh, he blocked punches from Sosa then jumped out of his stance and landed a left-right combo. At the start of the final minute, he dazed Sosa with a right cross and followed with a left.

The eighth was closer, but still a round for Viloria. Both fighters landed combinations — Sosa a strong left uppercut — but Viloria took the round when Sosa walked into a strong left.

Sosa had been effective through much of the fight with a quick, double-punching left hand. He'd slam Viloria with the left and immediately reload it and bring it down far enough to slip it below Viloria's elbow and onto his body. He alternated by going body first, head second in other exchanges.

It was the sign that Sosa was figuring out Viloria's tight defense. Viloria would patiently block shots with his gloves to his head.

"At first when he did that I did feel a little frustrated," Sosa said. "But at the end I was taking him apart because he was doing it over and over again."

Though he's won a world title at 108 pounds, Viloria said he is thinking about moving up to 112 pounds. He said he's not happy that after his knockout to win the title over Ortiz his four fights have gone the distance.

"I've looked mediocre in those other fights since winning the world title," he said.

He looked mediocre at the wrong time yesterday.

OTHER BOUTS

Manny Pacquiao (44-3-2, 34 knockouts) of the Philippines stopped Jorge Solis (34-1) with a powerful right hand in the seventh round ... Cristian Mijares (31-3-2) won a 12-round unanimous decision over fellow Mexican Jorge Arce (46-4-1) to keep his WBC super flyweight title ... In a non-title welterweight bout, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. remained undefeated (31-0-1, 24 knockouts) when the referee stopped his fight against Anthony Shuler (20-5-1) at 1:32 of the second round.

—Associated Press