Speed and power.
Brian Viloria is supremely confident of repulsing the challenge of Mexican challenger Jose Antonio Aguirre with a display of lightning-quick reflexes and punching prowess on Feb. 18 at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino i n Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I am in grate shape,” Viloria told Filipino mediamen during a teleconference call put up by Solar Sports yesterday from the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California. “I have a nice hook and right hand and I believe I will retain the crown.”
Viloria is making the first defense of the World Boxing Council (WBC) light-flyweight title and his team also expressed the opinion that the Hawaii-born puncher whose parents are from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, will get the job done in the scheduled 12-rounder that will be beamed live by Solar Sports.
The past few days, Viloria has been sparring most of the time with Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, whom ringsiders believe have what it takes to make it big.
Trainer Freddie Roach, who also calls the shots for Manny Pacquiao, is also optimistic that Viloria will take care of Aguirre, nicknamed “El Jaguar.”
“We are ready to go 12 hard rounds,” declared Roach, who was also j oined in the Q&A session by Viloria’s manager Gary Gittelsohn.
Viloria, who spent the first six years of his life with his late grandfather in Ilocos before returning to Honolulu, had seized the WBC 108-lb crown with a vicious, one-punch first-round knockout win over Eric Ortiz of Mexico in Los Angeles in September last year.
Ortiz had taken the vacant WBC title in March 2005 with a seventh-round stoppage of Aguirre.
Still, Aguirre remains extremely dangerous and Viloria is aware of the perils of taking somebody for granted.
Viloria is being primed for a string of big-money figths that will propel him to a much-awaited duel with Mexican Jorge Arce sometime late this year or early-2007. But, first thing’s first: Aguirre is a roadblock that needs to be cleared.
