VILORIA READY FOR HIS FIRST CRACK AT WORLD
TITLE ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10
By Tom Dickie
Honolulu's own
Brian Viloria A.K.A. the "Hawaiian Punch" will become yet another
member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team to earn a shot at a world
title. On Saturday September 10th, Viloria will challenge Mexico's
Eric Ortiz for the WBC light flyweight title at the Staples Center
in Los Angeles. For those of you attending the event on Saturday
night, get there early, because you don't want to miss this fight.
It will be on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Velazquez and
Morales-Raheem bouts, but will not be televised on HBO. The only
audience will be the crowd stirring into the Staples Center,
something that fighters in the low weight classes are used to.
This fight has been bumped around a couple
of times. It was originally slated to be on the undercard of the
failed "Million Dollar Lady" card. Now it finds a spot at a big
venue, just not a TV audience. The smaller weight classes have been
virtually ignored in the past and Viloria has long said that his
goal is to bring the smaller weight classes into the limelight.
Ricardo Lopez, probably one of the greatest fighters of his time,
an undefeated fighter with nearly fifty wins in his career was a
fighter only known by the hardcore boxing fans. Viloria hopes that
fights like Jorge Arce and Hussein Hussein early in the year, and
some of his future fights will bring more exposure to the lower
weight classes.
Viloria is one of the few name flyweights,
mainly because of his punching power and his Olympic fame. He hopes
that he can win a world title on Saturday and bring more exposure
to the smaller fighters like Arce, Hussein, Ortiz, and Pongsalek
Wongjonkam. However, it won't be easy for Viloria to accomplish
this on Saturday as he fights newly crowned WBC champ Eric Ortiz,
who will be fighting for the first time outside of his native
Mexico. Ortiz is coming off a TKO win over Jose Antonio Aguirre,
which earned him the title, and his record now stands at 24 wins, 4
losses, 16 KOs. The champion hopes to gain some exposure by beating
Viloria, one of the better-known flyweights. Ortiz is managed by
Fernando Beltran, who has guided the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez
and Marco Antonio Barrera.
These two men are action fighters who
can pop; and with all that is on the line, this could be one solid
title fight. Viloria is 17-0 with 11 KOs, he is trained by the
acclaimed Freddie Roach. While training at Roach's Wildcard Gym in
Hollywood, California, Viloria has sparred with elite company,
including current world champions, Israel Vazquez and Vic
Darchinyan. Viloria's problem has not been getting good competition
in sparring, but rather, getting good competition in the ring. He
has been trying to land a world title shot for two years now, and
will finally get his shot on Saturday.
Two completely different paths will come to
a fork on Saturday. Viloria has traveled to this point from his
native Hawaii through the Olympics, and through fighting in
Southern California. Ortiz has traveled the road through Mexico,
where he has fought all his wars until now. These two fighters’
paths will meet on Saturday night in Los Angeles, with a world
title on the line. Too bad more people can't see it.
