Las Vegas, NV - Brian Viloria, the exciting, all-action world champion from Hawaii, will defend his World Boxing Council (WBC) light flyweight title on a big Top Rank championship boxing card at The Orleans Hotel-Casino on Thursday, August 10, Bob Arum of Top Rank announced today.
Viloria, 19-0 with 12 knockouts, of Hawaii will take on world-rated challenger Omar Nino, 23-2-1, 10 KOs, of Guadalajara, Mexico.
Ireland's John Duddy, 17-0 with 15 KOs, will also be on the big card, Arum said.
The fight card will begin at 5:30 pm. The OLN telecast will begin at 6:00 pm local time.
Tickets are $25, $45, $70 and $100 and will be on sale soon at The Orleans box office. For more information, please call 702-365-7075.
This will be the second world title defense for Viloria, one of the most popular champions on the Top Rank roster.
Here is a quick, snapshot look at Viloria:
BRIAN "Hawaiian Punch" VILORIA (19-0, 12 KOs)…
++WBC light flyweight world champion, one successful defense…
++Former NABF flyweight champion, four successful defenses…
++Former WBC Youth flyweight champion…
++North American Boxing Federation "2002 Fighter of the Year"…
++2000 U.S. Olympic representative, 106 pounds…
++1999 World Amateur champion, 106 pounds…
++1999 U.S. National amateur champion…
++1999 National Golden Gloves amateur champion, 106 pounds…
++1996 National Jr. Olympics amateur champion, 106 pounds…
++1995 National Jr. Olympics amateur champion, 100 pounds…
Brian was born in Hawaii, but spent his first five years in the Philippines, where he was raised by his grandparents. He moved back to Hawaii and started boxing at the age of six. Brian said his grandfather taught his father to box and Brian's father taught him.
Brian said that when he was growing up in Hawaii, he would punch banana trees to strengthen his hands. He was a wrestler and an all-star tennis player in high school. Brian attended Northern Michigan University, which has one of the best amateur boxing programs in the U.S., and he majored in broadcast journalism
He does an incredible workout with the jump-rope; he said, "Just jumping up and down wasn't doing it for me. I was getting bored. I saw a Canadian champion jumping rope in an exhibition, and I said, 'Hey, I want to do those tricks.' So I was 11 or 12 years old, and I started working on it. It became a lot more fun for me."
Brian speaks several languages and plays many musical instruments.
