TalkingBoxing Interviews
Talking Boxing with BRIAN VILORIA
FRI September 9, ROGER GORDILLO - After dealing with his last opponent going into a coma and the possibility of him dying from the punishment he instilled, "Hawaiian Punch" Brian Viloria is now about to go from living one his worst nightmares to possibly fulfilling his biggest dream. The unbeaten Viloria, 17-0, faces WBC light flyweight titlist, Eric Ortiz this Saturday night on the non-televised under card of HBO’s ‘Double Trouble’ from the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles in front of his hometown crowd.
TalkingBoxing: So how are you doing, you ready?
Brian Viloria: Good, Yeah, you know I’m ready.
TalkingBoxing: So how long did you live in Hawaii?
Brian Viloria: I was born and raised there for 18 years, and moved out here 5 years ago. [to California]
TalkingBoxing: What’s the boxing scene like in Hawaii?
Brian Viloria: Right now it wasn’t as popular as it was in the 70’s and 80’s because Jesus Salud came out of there, Andy Ganigan also fought out from there. Right after their years there was almost like a lull until I came back and won a birth on the Olympic team in 2000 and it resurrected. It’s not as big as it was before but when I’m down there it’s like everyone comes out to the fights and its cool.
TalkingBoxing: Do you feel that it’s kind of unfair that the lower weights don’t get as much recognition as the higher weights, when in essence you guys probably train harder are more disciplined and probably fight harder than the higher weights?
Brian Viloria: Yeah, it’s the sad part of being in the lighter weights, but as far as I can see there’s been a sudden change in the division, where it kind of demands a lot more people watching the division. As much as you want to sometimes, to fight for the same amount of money as the middleweights or the heavyweights. But now that’s going to change a little bit in our favor, with Arce and the way he’s fighting and now I’m coming up and Vic Darchinyan is get a lot more popular, it kind of demands for the crowd to come out and watch that division a lot more and that’s going to draw a lot more money into the division. So it really depends on how everyone plays their cards and their future match ups with the fighters.
TalkingBoxing: If you’re successful in securing a title in your next match, are you planning on staying at this weight for a while?
Brian Viloria: It really depends on how my management and my promotions take it. I might defend it a couple of more times in this weight division and then move up or if need be I can move up to 112 again and fight for a world title up there. So it really depends how we're going to look at it. We're gonna try and see where I'm at now, and maybe a year or two down the line and see if maybe I should move back up. But to move back up, it's my favor to move back to 112 that's my natural weight, I fight a lot better and I don't have to struggle down to make 108.
TalkingBoxing: Who are some possible opponents you’re trying to get fights with?
Brian Viloria: The one a lot of people are talking about is me and Jorge Arce getting it on, that's one big fight I'm looking forward to. And the other guys Pongsaklek [Wonjongkam, the WBC champ] at 112 and Vic Darchinyan with the IBF. There are a lot of fights, a lot of great fights out there that people want to see me matched up with, so I'm looking forward to it but I'm still taking it one day at a time one fight at a time.
TalkingBoxing: So if you are successful in capturing a title Saturday night a lot of those fights will be closer to being made?
Brian Viloria: Yeah, a lot of it is going to be made. It's already in the works and we talked about it so it just a matter of me staying in shape and just winning fights.
TalkingBoxing: So what are some of the goals you want to accomplish in your boxing career?
Brian Viloria: One is winning a world title, and that's going to come soon putting my mark and becoming the next Michael Carbajal. And I really want to put in everybody's mind that I'm one of the great pound for pound champions and get up on that ranking and become another Michael Carbajal or one of those other guys.
TalkingBoxing would like to thank Brian for his time and wish him the best of luck in his title search tomorrow night at the Staples Center, in California.
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