After a year competing in the dregs of boxing, Waipahu's Brian Viloria fought his way back to the top yesterday.

Viloria won the IBF light-flyweight world championship with a spectacular knockout of Mexico's Ulises Solis.

The championship bout in the 108-pound class was staged before a capacity crowd of around 20,000 — almost all of them cheering for Viloria — at Araneta Coliseum in Manila, Philippines.

"This was my last chance," said Viloria, 28. "I had to come out and put everything on the table. If I lost this fight, I had to reconsider my sport."

Instead, Viloria is a world champion for the second time in his career.

He won the WBC light-flyweight championship in 2005, but lost it in 2006. In an effort to get back into title contention, Viloria fought five times in 2008 on lightly publicized cards.

"It's a storybook ending," Viloria said. "The last year, five fights in a row in places where people go shopping at, like swap meets and downtown corners. Just having my team believe in me and work with me throughout the year and coming in here to win a world title fight, you can never write a better ending than that."

Viloria is now 25-2 with the 15th knockout of his career. Solis, who held the IBF light-flyweight championship since 2006, dropped to 28-2-2.

Viloria, who was born in the Philippines then raised in Waipahu, capped the action-packed bout with a right hook that landed square on Solis' jaw. The official time was 2:56 into the 11th round. It was scheduled for 12 rounds.

"That's what we train for," said Viloria, who trains out of the La Colonia Boxing Club in Oxnard, Calif. "We had to stay focused for every minute of the round for 12 rounds. There were exchanges in there where I had to just let it go. I let my punches go."

Viloria landed effective combinations in virtually every round. By the end of the fifth, Solis had cuts over both eyes.

However, Solis also landed several scoring punches, and staggered Viloria with a right hook late in the eighth round.

"He had a great jab," Viloria said. "He was catching me with a lot of great jabs. But I was able to overcome that and come back with two- and three-punch combinations and I snuck a right hand in there."

Viloria also had to overcome two low blows — one in the third round and one in the fifth. Solis had a point deducted for each infraction.

Viloria said he was not sure what his next move would be — either a title defense at 108 pounds, or a move up to the flyweight (112 pounds) division.

"I want to enjoy this for a minute," he said. "I had no rest last year. Five fights, that's unheard of in the boxing world. I think we deserve to get well-rested."