Although they were complementing each other outside the ring, acting as if they were long-lost friends, Brian Viloria and Donnie Nietes were pretty intense during their three-round sparring session Wednesday afternoon at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
Ten days before they embark on major missions on Oct. 17, Nietes in neighboring Carson and Viloria in New York City, those who were present during the workout were impressed with the second sparring session.
?They did very well,? reported Edito Villamor, one of Nietes trainers.
Nietes defends the World Boxing Organization light-flyweight title against Juan Alejo of Mexico at the StubHub Center.
Viloria, who is aiming to resurrect his roller-coaster career, challenges the undefeated Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua for the latter?s World Boxing Council fly belt at Madison Square Garden.
Villamor described the sparring as some sort of ?a round-robin? with Viloria and Nietes taking on each other and their respective sparring partners as well.
Viloria is going into the final days of preparation at the Wild Card as he and his team will fly to the Big Apple on Sunday.
Nietes, who arrived in Los Angeles on Oct. 1 from Manila, will train at Freddie Roach?s sweat shop until Oct. 14.
The Nietes-Alejo showdown will topbill Pinoy Pride 33: Philippines vs The World, a promotion being staged by ALA Boxing in partnership with ABS-CBN.
