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You still remember Brian Viloria, right?
Two years ago, the guy was the second
hottest prizefighter in our shores, ranking just beside the
incomparable Manny Pacquiao. The Fil-Hawaiian barged into the local
boxing scene with a bang, collaring the WBC light flyweight (108
pounds) title with a one-round thumping of Mexican Eric Ortiz.
Viloria’s impressive ascension to the throne
was supposed to be a portent of things to come. Even before he
turned pro, Viloria already had “greatness” etched all over his
resume. He started hitting the sandbag at age 6, partly because his
younger brother, Gaylord, who now stands around 6’0” and weighs
over 200 pounds, beat him up a lot. After graduating from high
school with honors (4.0 GPA), Brian enrolled at Northern Michigan
University on a full scholarship.
As an amateur boxer, Viloria merited attention
for raking in gold medals in the Junior Olympic, US and World
Amateur championships. Blossoming under the tutelage of renowned
American boxing coach Al Mitchell, Viloria went down in the record
books as Hawaii’s first Olympic boxer when he saw action in the
2000 Sydney Games. Interestingly enough, Viloria made it to the US
Olympic squad by beating Fil-American Nonito Donaire Jr., the
incumbent IBF flyweight king.
While Viloria did go on to become WBC champion,
his career in the punch-for-pay ranks has really been a
disappointment. The “Hawaiian Punch” just can’t seem to find
the right concoction. Viloria is only 27 years old, but in the last
two years he has looked as washed up as this writer’s old high
school jeans. The eight-round decision win Viloria scored over Jose
Garcia Bernal on January 4 was actually his first victory in his
last four bouts.
Observers are advancing the argument that
Viloria may already be shopworn when he turned pro. The belief that
he may have overstayed in the amateur ranks—where he figured in
close to 300 fights—is supported by the fact that he broke his
hand in his very first pro fight in May 2001.
Fragile hands have been a bane for Viloria. In
his first defense of the WBC diadem against Jose Antonio Aguirre in
February 2006, he broke his hand again and settled for a decision
victory.
There are also some quarters who are saying that
Viloria’s killer instinct is no longer the way it used to be after
he nearly killed an opponent—Mexican Ruben Contreras—in May
2005. Contreras quit in the sixth round of the fight, complaining of
a headache. He had a seizure less than 10 minutes later and needed
surgery to stop a hemorrhage around his brain. Contreras was in a
weeks-long coma but has since recovered from the ordeal.
When he lost the WBC title to the
lightly-regarded Omar Nino in only his second defense in August
2006, Viloria was harpooned for exhibiting the killer instinct of a
nun. Viloria would go on to put up similar nonchalant efforts in
losses to Nino (the result of the rematch was later changed to a No
Contest after Nino tested positive for banned substances) and Edgar
Sosa. In both fights, Viloria’s attention seemed to drift
elsewhere.
Viloria returned to the win column by beating
Bernal and improved his record to 20-2-1 with 12 knockouts. Then
again, the fight with journeyman Bernal—who had also been kayoed
in October by Juan Mercedes—should be strictly construed as
confidence-building measure, nothing more.
The future remains sketchy for
Viloria. While he is calling out the name of IBF champion Donaire,
the fact remains that Viloria needs to prove himself all over again.
He needs to convince the public that he has exorcised the
butterflies in his breadbasket and regained the eye of the tiger.
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For comments, the writer can be reached at
atty_eduardo@ yahoo.com.
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