Former light flyweight world champion Brian Viloria (left) and interim World Boxing Association (WBA) super-flyweight titleholder Nonito Donaire score wins against their Mexican foes in Pasig City and Puerto Rico, respectively, on a Saturday night. (File)

On a night when Philippine boxing suffered a double black eye, Nonito Donaire showed why he and the revered Manny Pacquiao justly deserve worldwide ring acclaim by being on just about every Tom, Dick and Harry’s pound-for-pound list.

Donaire made his point in emphatic fashion Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila), by toppling Hernan “Tyson” Marquez of Mexico with a vicious left uppercut in the eighth round to retain his interim World Boxing Association (WBA) super-flyweight title at the Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“I wanted some more rounds,” said Donaire, who improved to 24-1 with 16 knockouts. “I knew I would figure him out right away. I wanted to do my left style. I was really confident going in there.”

Back home, Brian Viloria scored a hard-earned 10-round split decision over Mexican Omar Soto Saturday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Two judges, Edwin Sese and Ricardo Canlas, scored it 97-93 for Viloria, while the third Filipino judge, Epi Almeda saw it 97-93 for Soto.

It was Viloria’s first fight since losing the International Boxing Federation (IBF) light-flyweight throne to Colombian Carlos Tamara last January and the win over Soto may have catapulted him back to the limelight.

Now fighting as a flyweight, Viloria started strong and took the first five rounds but Soto rebounded in the second half by engaging the Hawaii-born puncher in heated exchanges.

Donaire could have finished off Marquez earlier but he took the opportunity to conduct an experiment with his southpaw stance in the hopes of using it in the future.

In the end, Donaire’s skills proved too much for the rugged Marquez to overcome and it now appears that when Donaire enters the ring again, it would be against Fernando Montiel of Mexico or another marquee name in the bantamweight class.

Donaire’s masterful win over the heavy-handed Marquez was sandwiched by setbacks suffered by super-bantam Eden Sonsona and featherweight Bernabe Concepcion, who bowed to their Puerto Rican rivals.

Sonsona was counted out by the referee in the ninth round after absorbing a right to the jaw from Jonathan Oquendo, while Concepcion was sent crashing in a neutral corner in less than two rounds by Juan Manuel Lopez, the defending World Boxing Organization featherweight king.

Oquendo and Sonsona battled furiously in the previous rounds but the Filipino seemed to have ran out of gas that he didn’t even bother to make an effort to get up when he went down.

The fifth-ranked Concepcion was overmatched by Lopez even though he had the Puerto Rican on the seat of his pants in the dying seconds of the first round after landing a Hail Mary left hook as he was being pummeled on the ropes.

But as soon as the second round began, Lopez made sure the trip to the canvas would not affect him in the ensuing action as he drove a wide-open and beleaguered Concepcion down with a jarring left to the jaw.

Moments later, Lopez went on the attack, hitting the gutsy but ham-handed challenger with a flurry that was capped by another left that felled Concepcion like a sack of potatoes.