It was just this past September 10th, inside the Staples Center in Los Angeles that an eager Brian Viloria showed the rest of the world what he already knew. With a more than devastating 1st round KO over Eric Ortiz, Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria took hold of the WBC light flyweight championship belt, beginning the newest chapter in his life, that of being a world champion. Since that win, boxing fans have been salivating at the thought of a Brian Viloria vs Jorge Arce bout at 112lbs, but according to Viloria’s manager Gary Gittelsohn we’ll have to wait. “Brian’s got other fish to fry first, but we’ll get there,” stated Gittelsohn. Viloria will be on tap to make his first title defense sanctioned by the WBC against Jose “El Jaguar” Aguirre. Viloria will have his hands full when he meets the former champ on February 18 inside the Aladdin Resort and Casino on the undercard for “Real Warriors” Margarito vs Gomez.
First of all Brian congratulations on your victory over Eric Ortiz, I gotta tell you, just before the fight started, I leaned over and told the guy next to me it was gonna be a 2nd round KO, I didn’t say 1st because I thought it’d be cocky. Well it was pretty close, thanks
You’ve always known you were a champion, the 2000 Olympics and everything you’ve accomplished, but how different does it feel walking around WildCard knowing you’re the best 108lbs fighter, and you’ve got the belt to prove it now? The same, the gym is still the gym, you gotta do what you gotta do. It’s hard to stay at the top everybody wants to be a world champion so everybody’s taking you seriously; everybody is gunning for you and wants to take that away from you.
Do things change for you now knowing that before you might have been able to sneak up on guys who might have underestimated your ability. Now you have guys are calling for you, now that you’ve been really exposed as the man to beat at 108lbs: It is more pressure, but that’s what you fight for. Now that guy is gonna train hard, come out, and that’s who I want to beat.
How comfortable do you feel for this, your first title defense? You know I had a couple times I was supposed to fight here, but it got cancelled. It really doesn’t matter when you fight in other states, in big arenas like the Staples Center, it really doesn’t matter it’s just another fight. I think I’ve experienced enough to not get too nervous about fighting in a big venue like this
Being that you had that 1st round KO, did that make it sweeter to get your belt that way or did kinda feel like there was something missing, like there wasn’t a great struggle to get that belt? Either way, win or lose when you give it your all and come out that way and you know you’ve giving everything you’ve got you’re satisfied, as well as the fact that you come out of it safely. So with all the circumstances that I went through, winning a fight of that magnitude just meant everything to me. Everything just happened for a reason, you realize that’s why these things happen that’s why this is so.
How much of a difference did it make having Ruben Contreras there ringside knowing he was Ok? It was a big difference. It was at a point where I wanted to quit the sport if he didn’t come out of the situation. I don’t think I would have been able to cope with it properly. For me having him there ringside, knowing he was Ok, smiling knowing he had everything, he had his life back, the feeling was a lot better than winning that world title. To know that he was there alive I almost cried when I stepped into the ring, at one moment he was in the hospital bed, on a respirator with his family around him, questioning why he was in that position. To see him with his wife smiling in the corner kinda cleared my conscience. It changed my life forever
This fight seemed like more than just simply winning a title, it seemed like a culmination of all these emotions you’ve been through. It was, you know, breaking off with promotions, not knowing when my next fight was gonna be, after so many cancellations, leading up to the Ruben Contreras fight and having him almost die. When you think about quitting the sport entirely just hanging it up, I was thinking, this is not working, I’m waiting for things that are not guaranteed, more so I almost killed a guy, you know all that just culminated to when I won that world title, it became like a reason why I did all that sacrificing, that was my price at the end of the road.
Obviously you’re in elite company as one of the very few world class boxers that has an education. Yes I graduated High School with Honors 4.0GPA; I had scholarships to wherever I wanted to go. Boxing is not the only thing I’m capable of doing. Music, I love to write, I love to read, I love going around doing public speeches to kids, motivate them to reach their goals and stay off drugs. I try not to be one dimensional; I see boxing as a way for me to reach out to people, as a way to be a public example to kids that if you work hard this is what you can have.
Being that you have so many options outside of boxing, how much will that figure into your ultimate plans in the ring? I love boxing, it’s my passion. But boxing is not the only thing I want to do with my life. I know at some point in my life, and when that time comes I want to be able to say goodbye to the sport and do other things with my life. Boxing is not my life entirely, I don’t want this to be the only story I write in my book. I want to travel the world, write a book, there are a lot of things. Too many boxers limit themselves. Because if you do get hurt and you find yourself not being able to continue with the sport, you don’t want to be afraid, knowing that boxing is the only thing you had. I want to keep more options open.
How proud do you feel being able to represent the Philippines as one of the best Pinoy fighters today? It’s feels awesome. I’ve always been here, it’s only now because of what I’ve done that they’re taking notice of me. It wasn’t that I just turned Filipino that night, you know, I’ve been Pinoy since I was born. I’ve been a proud Pinoy all my life. The homecoming I received after winning the title, I felt like royalty. It was such a good feeling to come home to the Philippines and feel so appreciated, it’s a good feeling to represent my people and to be able to make them proud.
Well Brian thank you for your time, good luck in February and good luck in life. Thanks, I look forward to all my Hawaiian fans here in Vegas to come out and support me as well as the many Pinoy’s here in town. Between the two I know there’s a lot here.
