'Shocked' Viloria praying for foe

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

There was no training and no celebrating yesterday for Waipahu boxer Brian Viloria.

Just a lot of praying.

"I went to church and prayed all day," Viloria said. "That's pretty much all I can do right now."

On Saturday, Viloria improved to 17-0 with a sixth-round technical knockout of Mexico's Ruben Contreras at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Contreras suffered a seizure after the bout and underwent 2 1/2 hours of surgery Saturday night to relieve pressure from bleeding on his brain. He was in critical condition last night in a medically induced coma.

Gary Gittelsohn, Viloria's manager, visited Contreras at the California Hospital Medical Center yesterday.

"He'll have to stay in a coma for 72 hours and then, god willing, he'll come out of it," Gittelsohn said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Dr. David Duarte, a trauma surgeon at the California Hospital, said of Contreras: "He still has some ways to go. He is still in danger for his life right now. With swelling in the brain, you can look good one hour, and it can turn sour the next."

Viloria said he was not aware that Contreras was seriously hurt during their bout.

"I caught him with some good uppercuts, but nothing out of the ordinary," Viloria said. "I knew I hit him good, but I never thought something like this could happen."

Viloria said he was "shocked" when he was informed a few hours after the bout that Contreras was en route to the hospital.

"I realize this is part of the sport, but you never want to be the one involved," said Viloria, 24. "It was never my intention to hurt someone like that and it never will be."

Gittelsohn said there was no indication that Contreras was medically unfit for Saturday's bout. Contreras, 32, entered with a 9-16-3 record, but had not been knocked out in his last 10 fights dating to 1999.

"It's obvious he experienced head trauma in the fight," Gittelsohn said. "Whether he had something before, we don't know. There was nothing to suggest that he may have been hurt prior to entering the ring and if he was, the fight obviously wouldn't take place."

What's more, Gittelsohn said the 110-pound bout "was not a particularly brutal fight."

The victory earned Viloria a world championship fight against WBC champion Eric Ortiz on July 30.

"I'll start training in a couple of days, but it's hard right now," Viloria said. "All I'm concerned about now is Ruben Contreras and my heart goes out to him and his family."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.