"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.