Brian Viloria Looking Good Ahead of Iribe Defense
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
IBF light flyweight champion Brian Viloria is “doing terrific” in preparation for the first defense on his newly won IBF title against Mexico’s Jesus Iribe at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 29.
Viloria’s manager Gary Gittelsohn gave BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports his assessment of the former WBC champion’s preparation for the defense of the crown he won with a sensational 11th round knockout of Mexico’s Ulises Solis at the famed Araneta Coliseum last April 19.
Viloria who trains at the Oxnard Gym of former world champion Roberto Garcia alongside WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano who defends his title against Filipino Bernabe Concepcion at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in the Top Rank promotion “Pinoy Power 2” said Viloria will be one of the commentators on the TV coverage.
The “Pinoy Power 2” fight card will be telecast by Solar Sports and GMA 7.
Gittelsohn said Viloria’s training “has been terrific and he’s had very good sparring and has come down in weight very nicely and he’s working in a terrific environment. He and Luevano are running every morning. ”
He said Viloria has been “sparring with no big names but include two pros and three amateurs who are the same guys when he prepared for the Solis fight.”
Gittelsohn said Viloria will leave for Las Vegas tomorrow to continue training and to also do the TV coverage. He will fly to Honolulu on the 24th.
Viloria himself said he is not underestimating Iribe and said that from watching some of the Mexican’s fight tapes he knows that Iribe “is a really good boxer and had quick hands” even as he told a Honolulu TV station that he “has to work hard, put my nose to the grind even more.”
The Viloria-Iribe bout will be the first title fight to be held in Honolulu in the last 33 years dating back to the April 13, 1976 title defense of super featherweight champion, Filipino southpaw Ben Villaflor who drew in a fifteen round against Samuel Serrano before losing the title in a rematch in San Juan, Puerto Rico in October that same year.
The fight will be Viloria’s fourth in Hawaii. He last fought in the state where he spent most of his youth when he scored an 8th round TKO over Valentin Leon on April 15, 2003.
Also seeing action on the Honolulu fight card is promising Filipino southpaw AJ “Bazooka” Banal who clashes with Mexico’s Victor Proa in a contest of two world-rated bantamweights.
