It was Jan. 4, 2008, at the Alameda Swap Meet in Los Angeles. It was raining hard, but Brian Viloria was on a mission and he wasn’t going to let that stop him from taking on Jose Garcia Bernal in an eight-round super flyweight fight.
“Brian had to be carried into the ring because the parking lot was flooded,” said Bill Caplan, the Hall of Fame publicist from Encino.
It was also very windy.
“I kept seeing the lighting fixtures on the canopy (covering the ring) swaying back and forth,” said Gary Gittelsohn, Viloria’s longtime manager.
“That was not the lowest I could go,” said Viloria, a two-time light flyweight champion who Jan. 23 (Jan. 22 here) will defend his current belt against Colombia’s Carlos Tamara (20-4, 14 KOs) in Manila, Philippines (on Solar pay-per-view). “But there was only one way I could go and that was up.”
Less than 2 1/2 years earlier, Viloria – a Filipino American born and raised in Hawaii – was honored in the Philippines for winning the light flyweight world championship with a first-round knockout of Eric Ortiz in Sept.2005 at Staples Center.
But it was Viloria’s fight against Mexico’s Ruben Contreras 3 1/2 months earlier at Staples Center that was the starting point of a roller coaster ride Viloria will never forget.
Viloria stopped Contreras in the sixth round. Unfortunately, Contreras suffered a brain injury and he had to undergo life-saving surgery. Viloria was devastated.
“I told my dad,
`If Ruben dies, I think I should hang up my gloves,”‘ Viloria said. “I didn’t think I would be mentally ready to handle that. I took it pretty hard.” Contreras survived, and was ringside to watch Viloria win his first world title, against Ortiz. Viloria and Contreras embraced before Viloria made his way into the ring.
“I remember walking toward the ring and Bill (Caplan) stopped me about halfway through and he pointed over to Ruben and he was there at ringside, and I was happy,” Viloria said. “I was real excited to see him there.
“It was almost like a sense of forgiveness for him to come by the fights and to support me to win a world championship.”
Viloria did just that. All was good, so it seemed. But Gittelsohn said Viloria wasn’t right, his quick stoppage of Ortiz notwithstanding. Viloria, he said, really didn’t have a chance to find out if he was psychologically sound because the fight lasted only two minutes and 59 seconds.
“The Contreras situation could have heaped psychological scars on anyone, especially someone as sincere and religious as Brian,” Gittelsohn said.
Viloria got through his first title defense – a 12-round unanimous decision over Jose Antonio Aguirre in Feb. 2006 in Las Vegas. But just about six months later in Las Vegas, Viloria appeared to be a shell of himself in losing his title via wide decision to Omar Nino Romero.
Viloria threw few telling punches. He showed all the signs of a fighter unsure if he wanted to be in the ring. Viloria was better in a rematch three months later, but he did not win back his title because the fight ended in a draw.
Viloria caught a break when Romero failed a post-fight drug test and was stripped of his title (the bout being ruled no-contest). That meant Viloria could fight Edgar Sosa for the vacant belt. He did so in April 2007 in San Antonio, but lost a majority decision.
At that point it was time for some soul-searching. Viloria had to decide whether he wanted to continue. He was 26.
“I sat down with Gary to see what I was going to do with boxing, trying to see what I might do with my life,” said Viloria, now 29. “Ultimately it came down to me and what I wanted to do with my sport, or without the sport.
“I took a nine-month layoff. Every day that passed by I kept missing the sport more and more. I felt empty not being in the ring.”
He finally told Gittelsohn he wanted to fight again, and wanted to again become world champion. Gittelsohn told him what he would have to do.
“Gary said, `If you want this you are going to have to bite down and get away from your comfort zone,”‘ Viloria said.
That turned out to be an understatement. Viloria’s first fight back was at the soaked swap meet. Viloria beat Bernal, then three more journeymen for little money before defeating yet another – Benjamin Garcia – back at the swap meet.
He had earned himself a shot at light flyweight champion Ulises Solis of Mexico. Viloria was given little chance to win. But he knocked out Solis in the 11th round in Manila.
Viloria (26-2, 15 KOs) was knocked off his perch, but he had made it back in spectacular fashion. Viloria – who has made one defense of his current belt – remembers everything that went through his mind after beating Solis.
“When I won the world title, fighting at the swap meet was worth it,” Viloria said. “Biting and eating nails was all worth it. That feeling of being world champion again just came flying back.
“I just told myself, `I don’t want to get back to the Alameda Swap Meet.”‘
