Prior to his August bout against Omar Nino, the pins were all set up for WBC junior flyweight champion Brian Viloria. Capitalizing on the immense popularity of fellow Pinoy Manny Pacquiao, Viloria had begun to carve out his own niche in the boxing marketplace.
There were growing endorsement opportunities overseas, a burgeoning Filipino/Hawaiian presence in Las Vegas, which had made his bout at the Orleans Hotel and Casino a tough ticket to procure, and there were early discussions of lucrative unification bouts in Asia.
Then, in front of a national audience watching on ‘Versus’ (then OLN), Viloria would throw a gutterball, getting upset by Nino in convincing fashion. In short, he was out-thought and out-fought by the 15-1 underdog, who immediately took the fight to Viloria in wresting the title from him.
Now, he gets a chance at redemption and revenge when he faces Nino this Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, underneath the rubbermatch between Pacquiao and Erik Morales.
?He was a little bit craftier than I thought he was. That night I just couldn’t put stuff together and I beat myself in that fight,” Viloria would tell Maxboxing last week at the South El Monte Community Center.
Viloria was given the moniker ‘Hawaaiian Punch’ for his offensive prowess as an amateur, but in his stint as a professional, he had evolved into more and more of a counterpuncher. That style would cost him dearly against Nino, who continually beat him to the punch over the summer.
?I really couldn’t get my punches off,” he would admit. “I don’t know what was going on and I ended up with a really bad night. I got nobody to blame but myself for that. He did his job and came to that fight wanting it and I made that whole fight harder for myself.”
There were visions of Viloria – who had won the WBC title by blowing out Eric Ortiz in September of 2005 – becoming the most marketable and lucrative small fighter since Michael Carbajal. But all that has now gone out the window in the wake of his stunning defeat.
?It was devastating; nobody expected it, least of all me,” admitted his manager Gary Gittelsohn of that setback. “It was a showcase, not to take someone like Nino lightly, because in that weight class all those kids are tough and Nino has a very, very good record, but we thought that Brian’s background, his amateur background, his professional background, would carry the day, and there had been talks of a whole bunch of great opportunities for Brian – not the least of which was Koki Kameda in Japan. There were Japanese reporters there that were looking to talk up the ultimate matchup and Jorge Arce if he was going to stay down at 112, which it looks like he isn’t going to do.
?But for the first time we were seeing a real buzz and Brian had a main event all to himself, he had a very, very good paying audience and it all fell apart. But fortunately, I think that he has an opportunity to redeem himself on the perfect showcase just three months later.”
Viloria feels the sting of that loss to this day.
?I still think about that and I’m going to be thinking about it and I’m going to think about this fight for the rest of my life,” he says. “But I have to somehow put that aside and keep training really hard and see if I can get back on the horse.”
And he wasn’t in the mood for any interim bouts. He yearned for an immediate rematch.
?I know what I did wrong that fight. I know I beat myself in that fight and I didn’t need a tune-up. I knew what I needed to do and I’ve been doing that for this next fight.”
Viloria has made a key change going into this bout. For the first five years of his professional career, he has had Freddie Roach in his corner. For this contest he has been working with Joe Hernandez’s training staff. Viloria makes it clear that Roach is not being scapegoated for his last performance. It’s really just a matter of logistics.
?I know that for this next fight Freddie was working with Manny a lot, it’s a real big fight for Manny and I really needed the attention,” he would explain. “I don’t think I was getting enough of that from Freddie because the caliber of fight he’s going to be in with. I needed more attention and people to work with me hands-on in the gym who’ll go running with me in the morning and I think I found that type of training crew with Joe Hernandez.”
Gittelsohn adds: “Brian loves Freddie and I love Freddie, there was no animosity whatsoever. We all know each other very well. Freddie is the only trainer Brian’s ever had professionally. And we know Freddie well enough to know that he doesn’t say ‘no’ to people. And over the last few years he’s become a very popular trainer and a lot of fighters want his time and Freddie doesn’t say no to them. And as a result, Freddie has spread himself – by his own admission – very thin.
?Given the additional circumstances that Freddie was preparing Manny Pacquiao, who’s his number one client at the moment, for the Morales fight on the same card, we knew and Freddie knew that he simply wasn’t going to have the kind of time to prepare Brian for the most important fight of his life. So we reluctantly went elsewhere to get Brian the kind of day-to-day attention he needs for this fight and that he simply could not get at the Wild Card.”
Roach, who has perhaps the largest world-class roster of any trainer currently in the sport, was more than understanding of the decision.
?We talked about it, me and Gary and Brian, there’s no hard feelings,” he says. “I just can’t have two big title fights on the same night and I can’t leave Manny alone in the locker room for Brian’s fight. So unfortunately the timing didn’t work out.
?Hopefully, he’ll do well in that fight. I’m pulling for him and hopefully he?ll be champion on the 18th.”
For this camp, Viloria is under the same program that boxers like Daniel Ponce de Leon, Mike Anchondo and Abner Mares go through. Unlike in the past, where his daily training and sparring was exclusive to the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Viloria has moved around from the Azteca Boxing Club in Bell, to the South El Monte Community Center and Hernandez? own gym inside a garment factory near the industrial city of Vernon. Have sparring, will travel. The only time Viloria has gone back to his old haunts was for media day last Thursday afternoon.
The change of scenery and atmosphere has been beneficial, according to Viloria.
“It rejuvenated me a lot, opened my eyes and it just pushed me harder in training,” he claims. “It toughened me up, I can tell you that much, in the ring as a person. I give a lot of thanks to everybody. Freddie’s still with me, he’s still in my heart and everybody thinks I put Freddie on the burner because of my last fight. It’s not because of that. I really did need to get more attention. I talked it over with Gary and my team and we all agreed on this. Freddie knows where I am and he wished me all the luck in the world.”
A fighter like Viloria can get lost in the shuffle at the Wild Card, one of the busiest and most talent-laden in the world. At its peak, things run like a boxing assembly line, plenty of work is being done, but not much one-on-one diagnostic work. Under this new set-up, Viloria is given hands-on detail from Mario ‘Yuca’ Morales and Racket Flores, who put him through a vigorous set of drills and exercises. One last vestige of Viloria’s old team is veteran cornerman Ruben Gomez, who keeps a watchful eye on the daily activities.
?I knew I could’ve been working harder,” Viloria says of his days at Wild Card. “I think I did get too comfortable and settled in. I’ve been with Freddie for the last five years. I think I just needed to get a new look in training methods and needed guys who could push me in the ring and push me in the gym. For this fight, that’s what I got.”
And despite a record of 19-1 and being just 25 years old, Viloria knows that making a living as a junior flyweight is tough without a title belt. For him, it’s the proverbial ‘must-win’ situation.
?I?m taking this as if this is my last fight in my career. If I don’t do well, if I don’t push through and accomplish it, then I’ll just have to hang the gloves up. That’s how I’m taking this fight. That’s how serious I am in winning back my world title. I’ve put all my heart, my guts, my glory in the gym. If I don’t push through in this fight, I’ll have to reconsider this sport of boxing.”
