There’s a certain symmetry to the way 2008 has played out for one Brian Viloria. Back in January, he kicked off his year with a workmanlike eight round decision over Jose Bernal on a cold, wet, windy night that had everybody ducking for cover at the Alameda Swapmeet. Tonight he goes back to the very same venue, where he faces Benji Garcia.
It will conclude a year that will have seen him fight five times, which is considered extremely busy for an established fighter under today’s standards. The large majority of his bouts have not been televised and have taken place in front of sparse crowds long before the main event combatants take the stage. It wasn’t that long ago that ‘The Hawaiian Punch’ was headlining nationally televised cards and appearing on big pay-per-view shows.
He?s gone from being a decorated US Olympian and a world champion to being undercard filler, and that?s just the way it as he?s rebuilt hsi career after a string of disappointing title efforts.
?This whole year has been very humbling,” Viloria admits. “Ever since the start of 2008, just getting back, it’s given me a fire and just given me that hunger to want to go back on the big stage. But yeah, this whole year has been very humbling for me. On the other hand, it’s been a big learning experience,.”
Call it a rehabilitation year. After winning the WBC jr. flyweight title in his 19th professional bout in September of 2005 by stopping Eric Ortiz in one, he would then make a successful defense against Jose Antonio Aguirre before coming up winless in his next three fights against Omar Nino (twice) and Edgar Sosa, where he would lose the title, then come up excruciatingly close in failed bids to regain his belt.
When it mattered most, he couldn’t pull through. While he may have been good enough to win a title, he wasn’t tough enough or seasoned enough to keep it. Perhaps part of the reason is that he lived very comfortably in his apartment in Hollywood, where he made friends with celebrities and enjoyed the fruits of his labors. When push came to shove, he simply didn’t have the sense of urgency or desperation like Nino or Sosa down the stretch.
At that point, the decision was made for Viloria to pack up and head to the more Spartan, blue collar atmosphere of Oxnard, California, to train with Robert and Eduardo Garcia at the La Colonia Gym. His apartment, which was just minutes from a multitude of social options, was traded in for a small, simple room at the Casa Del Mar Hotel near the gym. The focus, from morning to night, is on boxing.
?It?s been an awakening for him,” said his manager, Gary Gittelsohn, of the fighter?s new surroundings. “I can see it and I know that others such as Ruben Gomez (veteran cornerman) have commented that Brian has become a lot harder. Sometimes tough love is good love and Brian has become a much tougher, hardened individual and I think those traits are necessary in order to have success in the ring.”
The manager used 2008 as a development period for his fighter.
“We had planned to keep him active and to have a title shot by the end of the year. The plan was coming to fruition but the fight in Macau fell through with the falling economy, and it didn’t help that Ulises Solis had an interim fight where he sustained a cut and he needed some time to recover as well. So we’re getting him a fifth fight this year and that’s this week. And I think that level of constant, regular activity is exactly what Brian needs to go into a big fight, a world championship fight in March, which is what we’re looking at doing in Manila.”
Viloria believes he needed the work.
“It’s basically keeping me where I need to be, keeping me sharp, not having me take big breaks between each fight. These fights are helpful, even though it’s not on the big stage. It’s keeping me active,” he says.
And the improvements aren’t just related to the technical or physical side of boxing. Changing his overall mentality in the ring was a priority.
“I believe it’s both,” he says. “I’ve been learning a lot in the gym with Robert and the whole crew. Just maintaining my style and learning a few things. And also, mentally, it’s been giving me back what I think I’ve lost going through some of the tougher fights. Just bringing back what got me to the top, which is being overly aggressive and knowing how to choose my shots. But at the same time just keeping my opponents off-balance. “I’ve just been maintaining my focus, and these fights are giving back what I think I’ve lost throughout the last couple fights.”
But has Viloria become a toughened, hardened individual? The reality is that when he’s needed to put a foot on someone’s throat in his close defeats, he has instead acted passively and been a nice guy. And you know where they finish.
“Yes, I am,” he states. “I think just being isolated in that environment in having me just concentrate on boxing has gotten me to bite down and I think it’s given me a tougher skin. At the same time, mentally it got me tougher. So this whole year, it’s been a great learning experience; it’s got me to the point where I believe I’m a better fighter than I was before a couple of years ago when I got the world title. It’s just a big, big learning experience; just living in this situation has gotten me hungrier for another world title.”
When asked about the progress of Viloria the past year, Garcia, a former jr. lightweight titlist, says, “All we have to do is the little things. He holds back a little too much. Inside the ring he doesn’t want to hurt his opponent, but that’s something we want to bring him back into. I know that this is five, six fights with us and I think he’s improved so much. Before, all he was doing was looking for a knockout, going out and trying to knock everybody out. Right now, I’m trying to work on his defense. He’s got so much talent and he’s got so much good footwork and movement that he hardly gets hit in the gym and that’s what I’m trying to bring into the fights.”
In the past, Viloria has been over reliant on landing a big left hook, but hesitant and unsure of his overall offensive approach or philosophy.
“I know nobody will give him a chance against Solis, but the way we already planned it, my dad and myself, when that day comes and he fights for the title again, if it’s Solis or a rematch with Sosa, I’m not guaranteeing he’ll beat them, but we’re going to go out there and try to bring the title back.”
Garcia agrees that Viloria has become more callous in the ring. The goal now is to bring what he shows in the gym into the actual fights. When he does fight for the title, the entire focus will be on Viloria.
“When it comes to the title fight, it’ll be just his time,” Garcia promises. “He doesn’t even know what he’s going to go through. And it’s going to be serious.”
But for now, the rebuilding stage continues back at the same place that was hit by the worst storm of the year in Southern California. It rained so much that you wouldn’t have been surprised to see animals lining up in pairs heading to an ark that night. Even when you ask Viloria what was more memorable, his fight or the downpour, he answers, “More of the rain,” with a big laugh. “It was awkward getting carried into the ring so my shoes wouldn’t get wet and it would’ve been slippery in the ring. It was an experience, and I tell you, that was a humbling experience.”
FRIDAY FLURRIES
Folks, according to weather reports, while it will cool down on Friday, it won?t rain till at least Saturday in the Southland….Again, the addy to the Alameda Swapmeet is 4501 South Alameda, Los Angeles…. When Joe Calzaghe says boxing is dying, is he really talking about his own failed promotions sans Frank Warren?….Weekend picks, I like Wlad Klitschko to impale Hasim Rahman within four rounds. And James Toney to out-point Fres Oquendo in a very ugly affair. I was thinking about going to this fight till Oquendo was tabbed to replace Tony Thompson….
