?THE Hawaiian Punch?, also known as Brian Viloria, is on mission to win a third ?world? title, this time at flyweight. He is returning to the fray having collapsed, exhausted, after losing his IBF light-flyweight title to Carlos Tamara in January. Viloria seriously considered whether he should retire.
The 29-year-old has been obliged to re-examine his career before. In 2005 Brian stopped Ruben Contreras in six rounds. The Mexican collapsed on his way back to the changing room and had to be rushed to hospital.
?I did go to visit him at the hospital,? Brian recalled. ?It?s out of your hands. All you can do is hope and pray everything will turn out okay. With this situation it did and I?m very thankful for that.?
Contreras? injuries were so severe they could have been fatal. It?s a nightmare situation for the victim and his family, of course, but frightening also for his opponent on the night. ?When this actually happens to you, you really step back and look at what you?re doing. Even though this is a hurt game, you don?t intentionally go out there and try to kill someone,? Brian said.
If the worst had happened to Contreras, Viloria knew he couldn?t have gone on as a boxer. ?Mentally I wasn?t going to be able to cope with it, knowing that you did take somebody?s life away,? Brian remembered. ?I told my family, during that time, if Ruben doesn?t make it, I?m through with this sport.?
Contreras did recover, though he never fought again. Viloria?s very next fight was his first shot at a world title. Ruben was well enough to be there and he sat ringside. ?I almost broke down seeing him there,? Brian said, ?because it was the first time in a long time that I?d seen him and to see him alive and supporting us as fighters? I hugged him for a long time.?
Then the Hawaiian entered the ring and knocked out the reigning champion, Eric Ortiz, inside a round. In the space of two fights Viloria went from the worst night of his life to one of the high points of his career. ?It was an awesome feeling,? he agreed, ?to come out of that ordeal and to win a world championship. I just let out a scream, it was a wonderful feeling.?
Viloria defended his WBC belt once before Omar Nino Romero scored an upset victory over him in 2006. Brian?s career went into a slump. His rematch with Romero was scored a draw and then ruled a no contest after the Mexican failed a drug test. In 2007 Brian fought Edgar Sosa for the vacant title but lost by majority decision.
The ex-champion decided to reinvent himself. He?d been trained for the first seven years of his professional career by Freddie Roach. Viloria moved on to link up with Robert Garcia who?s been in his corner since 2008.
They started from scratch in other ways too. Brian went from fighting at the Staples Center and the MGM Grand to plying his trade at the Alameda Swap Meet. ?It was a dingy parking lot in the middle of South Central LA,? he laughed. ?They had to carry me to the ring because the ground was flooded. As soon as the fight started, the wind started blowing and I thought the lights were going to collapse on top of us and electrocute us.?
It may have been a low moment for the boxer, who?d won the amateur world championships back in 1999, but Viloria never lost faith in himself. ?I wanted to get back to a world title and I told myself I have to go through this. If this is what I have to go through, then so be it,? Brian said.
He did turn things around. That year, 2008, Viloria fought five times, winning on every occasion and taking his career out of the doldrums. That brought him his second challenge for a world crown.
In 2009 he met the IBF light-flyweight champion, Ulises Solis, at the Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines, winning by way of an 11th round knockout. Viloria defended the belt once before his shattering defeat to Tamara.
But ?The Hawaiian Punch? will fight again, with his next appearance scheduled for July 10. ?Mentally, physically, I?m not ready to retire. I?m not ready to hang the gloves up,? Brian said. ?All the setbacks in my career, I?m just going to take that [experience] into my next fight. Hopefully after that I?ll compete for another world title and win that also.? His goal is to become a three-time world champion. ?Or even more,? he added. ?Who knows??
