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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, December 16, 2004

Viloria's ready to rumble

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

We're told they stuffed towels under the bathroom door, turned on the hot water in the shower to fill the place with steam and then, for nearly an hour and a half in his Los Angeles hotel yesterday, Angel Priolo, wrapped in a sweatsuit, jumped rope, ran in place and shadow boxed to lose weight.

For the first time in a long time, somebody other than Brian Viloria had to sweat out whether one of his bouts would take place.

After suffering two maddening 11th-hour fight cancellations in the last three months, "I was a little scared about this one," Viloria said. "But I felt he'd lose the (one and a quarter pounds) weight" to get down to 112.

BRIAN VILORIA
Not to worry. As long as Priolo makes it the approximately one mile from the hotel to the Grand Olympic Auditorium tonight — "and nothing is definite until the first bell sounds" as Viloria's manager Gary Gittelsohn has come to say — the former Olympian from Waipahu may finally get his world flyweight title elimination bout. His patience having endured a six-month test.

In the 5 p.m. (Hawai'i time) headline bout of an HBO Latino card (not viewable on local cable systems) from the venerable 70-plus-years-old auditorium, Viloria's future is finally back in his own hard-punching hands, which is where he's always wanted it.

What the unbeaten (15-0, nine knockouts) Viloria does with the World Boxing Council Latino flyweight title bout figures to say a lot about whether he gets the WBC world championship bout with Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand he has been chasing.

That's a deal the No. 2-ranked Viloria will jump at. "The past few months have been hell," said Viloria, who hasn't fought since June. "Hell for me and hell for my management people, so I'm excited to finally get in the ring."

When he gets there he'll, hopefully, find Priolo. Though how much starch yesterday's weight-loss session might have taken out of the 31-year-old Colombian is anybody's guess.

At his best Priolo has been pretty good — 30-1 with 20 knockouts — losing only to Irene Pacheco, the International Boxing Federation champion, in 1998. Priolo, the No. 9 WBC flyweight contender, hasn't fought in 10 months and was to have fought Fernando Montiel at 115 pounds on the same HBO card.

But when Montiel withdrew due to illness, the dark cloud that has followed Viloria around since June suddenly became a shining opportunity. One Viloria can't afford to squander now.

"He's an opponent of a quality Brian has not seen professionally," Gittelsohn said. "If Brian is right he knows he'll beat this guy — and Brian knows he has to be right."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.