By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

In the mornings and early afternoons, professional boxer Brian Viloria hones his brutal craft, pummelling speed bags and punishing sparring partners in a Hollywood, Calif., gym.

After hours, he has come to dabble in the entertainment capital's main industry as an occasional extra in television sitcoms.

"At some point, I know he is going to insist he get some lines," jokes his manager, Gary Gittelsohn.

In the meantime, Viloria is reading for his biggest part to date, auditioning for the long-vacant role of main event meal ticket when he returns home to headline the May 17 Tom Moffatt card at the Blaisdell Center Arena.

So depressed has the local boxing industry been that it has been more than two years since any promoter even dared venture into Blaisdell. This in an arena that once hummed with activity and played host to biweekly or monthly shows for much of its nearly four decades of operation.

Small wonder that few recent promoters have risked solvency in an arena that seats nearly 8,000 for boxing when the average crowd during the past seven years has been a meager 786.

It has been nearly a decade since the place was more than a quarter filled for a boxing show, prompting promoters to take what infrequent shows there have been to hotel ballrooms and assorted smaller venues.

Enter Viloria, the unbeaten (6-0) flyweight from Waipahu with Sydney Olympian credentials, who is, pending Hawai'i State Boxing Commission approval, scheduled for an eight-rounder against Sandro Oviedo (22-17-2) of Argentina. Viloria's debut as a main eventer comes with the added challenge of attempting to return boxing to more than a cult following even if for one night.

With Viloria and an optimum Friday night non-televised date with which to display him, Moffatt says, "Blaisdell was the first place I thought of. I didn't think of any place else. There's a history there. It is where the big fights were."

In view of recent history, the question about this card is less about how Viloria will do in the ring than how his rising popularity will translate into traffic at the box office.

With ticket prices ranging from $25 to $75, "I'm an optimist," Moffatt says. "I think we'll draw over 3,000. I think 3,000 is pretty easy for this fight."

Given the recent state of the punch-for-pay industry here, that would be something, indeed.

Draw that many patrons back to Blaisdell and Viloria will be considered star material whether he ever utters a line on camera or not.