Posted on: Saturday, May 28, 2005
Viloria tunes up for title shot
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
The fight before "The Fight" will take place today for Waipahu boxer Brian Viloria.
It will not be televised in Hawai'i.
Julio Cesar Chavez will face Ivan Robinson in the main event.
If Viloria prevails today, he will fight Eric Ortiz for the World Boxing Council (WBC) junior flyweight world championship in July.
Hometown: Waipahu
Age: 24
Weight: 110 Record: 16-0 (10 by KO)
Ruben Contreras
Hometown: Juarez, Mexico
Age: 32
Weight: 108 3/4 Record: 9-16-3 (4 by KO) Viloria has a professional record of 16-0 with 10 knockouts. Contreras is 9-16-3 with four knockout victories.
"He's fought a lot of tough people," Viloria said of Contreras. "I haven't really seen him fight, but just looking at his record, I know that he's going to be tough because he has experience against some of the top-ranked guys."
Viloria's manager, Gary Gittelsohn, said: "This is absolutely a must-win for Brian. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Brian takes care of business (today) and doesn't get hurt."
Today will be Viloria's first professional bout outside of the flyweight class (112 pounds). Because his potential world championship bout would be at 108 pounds, Viloria wanted to drop weight for today's fight.
"I just had to watch what I ate and cut back a little; it wasn't that hard," Viloria said. "Basically, I dropped two pounds for this fight and have to drop two more for the next one. It shouldn't be too bad."
Viloria did not find out he was going to fight Contreras until a week ago.
"I kind of train for every fight the same way, so it didn't really matter," he said.
Viloria's last bout resulted in a knockout victory over Angel Priolo on Dec. 16.
Gittelsohn said Viloria could have gone straight to the July world title bout without fighting today.
"We had the option of just focusing on the July 30 fight," Gittelsohn said. "But that would have kept Brian out of the ring for seven months. That's why I'm kind of hoping for Brian to get in some good rounds (today) to get him ready."
A capacity crowd of around 20,000 is expected for today's card, and most of the fans will be pro-Mexican because of Chavez.
Because Contreras is also from Mexico, he is expected to be the crowd favorite.
"I don't really hear the crowd when I'm in the ring anyway, so it doesn't matter," Viloria said. "But I'll have my family and friends there, so I'll have my share of support."
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
Viloria will face Ruben Contreras of Mexico today in a 110-pound bout scheduled for eight rounds. It is an undercard bout at the Staples Arena in Los Angeles.
Brian Viloria
"This is kind of like a tune-up fight for me," Viloria, 24, said. "But there's also some pressure on me because I need to win this fight and show everybody that I am deserving of the title fight."
Brian Viloria
