Toil pays off for champ-again Viloria

MANILA, Philippines – It was never an easy trek to glory for newly-crowned IBF light flyweight Brian Viloria. Since his fall from the top, ex-WBC 108-lb king Viloria swallowed his pride and toiled in the non-lucrative, non-televised Alameda Swap Meet in the LA, fighting five “tune-up fights" throughout 2008 as he prepares to get a shot at redemption. Upon the advice of his manager Gary Gittelsohn, the “Hawaiian Punch" also gave up his celebrity lifestyle, joining the La Colonia Boxing Club under former world champion Robert Garcia in Oxnard, California where he spent days eating and breathing boxing and nothing else. No distractions whatsoever. And after a year of what Gittelson calls “deconstructing Viloria in order to reconstruct him," the redemption-seeking fighter finally reaped the fruits – he is a world champion again. “Last year, we had fight straight fights. I fought in a swap meet, in small arenas that people wouldn’t dare to go," said a teary-eyed Viloria Sunday after dethroning Ulises Solis with an 11nth round TKO. After rediscovering his passion for boxing, the 28-year-old Viloria went into nearly four months of training for the Solis fight with so much gusto. “I can’t recall a time in my life that I enjoyed waking up at 6 in the morning and I was like I would like to go to training camp, I would like to go sparring every other day. I just had fun in the gym. I think the best part was that I fell in love with the sport again, " recalled Viloria, who said it was the best training camp of his life. It was at this very camp that Viloria felt Solis’ belt was his for the taking. “I had it since the first day at training camp. I mean we saw him fight and we saw weaknesses that we could have exposed and we worked hard on it. (Trainer) Eduardo (Garcia), everytime I stepped in the ring for sparring, he would say' new world champion' so we know we had it already from the first day of training camp and we just needed to work hard. I just needed to put my nose on the grinder, keep working and working. I think we won the world championship in training, he said. Viloria’s story is a classic tale of, according to Gittelson, “moving two steps back in order to make three steps forward." The fighter from Ilocos won the WBC 108-lb belt in 2005 by knocking out Eric Ortiz in the first round. But after decisioning Jose Antonio Aguirre in his 2006 title defense, a listless Viloria lost his fire and yielded the crown to then heavy underdog Omar Nino Romero. A rematch with Romero ended in a controversial majority draw, later a no-contest after Romero failed a drug test. Viloria got a shot at the vacant crown but lost a decision to Edgar Sosa. It was then time for Viloria to go back to the roots. And rise from the ashes he eventually did. “Sometimes in boxing when a fighter loses after he’s been a champ, he gets down on himself and fans get down on him. But it takes a kid that really has guts to pull himself together and to come back and be able to capture the championship from such as great, skilled champ like Ulises Solis. Brian Viloria did that today and he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for what he did with his career and winning the title from not just any alphabet soup guy but from a real champion," said Top Rank’s Bob Arum. “I just hope that his reign as champion will become a lot longer than the last time," he pleaded. Exactly the sentiments of most Filipino fight fans. –Olmin R. Leyba, GMANews.TV