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Thursday, September 14, 2000
‘Propaganda’ Waipahu's Brian Viloria makes it clear he's not impressed with the rhetoric coming from the Cuban Olympic boxing camp.
puts fire into
Brian Viloria
Waipahu's Olympic boxer
The other Aussie Olympics
wants Cuban team to
'eat their own words'By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin"It plays a lot into my motivation to make them eat their own words," said the world light flyweight (106 pounds)champion.
What prompted Viloria were comments made by Cuba's head boxing coach, Alcides Sagarra.
"We are going to clean up," said Sagarra in an Associated Press story. "What we want is the national hymn 12 times, our flag raised 12 times."
That means Sagarra expects Maikro Romero to avenge his 9-2 loss to Viloria in the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston on Aug. 26, 1999.
Romero won the gold at 112 pounds in Atlanta in 1996, but then decided to drop down in weight. He defeated Viloria, 11-3, in the 1998 Goodwill Games.
"We think about that propaganda about gold medals and our coaches are hanging that up every day for motivation," said Viloria, one of the U.S. team's marquee boxers.
"They're (U.S.) saying the Cubans are out there doing twice as much training as us," said Viloria "It provides a lot of driving force for us. I personally want to prove them (Cubans) wrong."
With two-time gold medal heavyweight Felix Savon leading the way, Cuba has captured 23 gold medals since 1972.
U.S. boxers haven't won more than a single gold medal since they corralled three in 1988 at the Seoul Games.
The light flyweights open competition Sunday.
Viloria, the most visible of a dozen Hawaii Olympians Down Under, said he clearly recalls how the Cubans disrupted the world championships last year.
Savon and his Cuban coaches circled the ring in protest over an earlier Cuban loss in the welterweight division. American heavyweight Michael Bennett waited in frustration for his chance to take on the legendary Savon.
Finally, when Savon refused to report for the bout, Bennett was awarded the world title by default. The Cubans then stormed out of the arena.
"Temperatures were rising in there," said Viloria. "Supposedly someone called Fidel Castro and he said to just pull the team out."
Viloria said he believes Castro knows his name because Viloria took a title away from Cuba in Houston, and because Viloria threatens to take the gold in Sydney.
"He's a big sports fan," Viloria said. "Boxing, wrestling, baseball."
Besides Viloria and Bennett, the U.S. team also has a world champion in featherweight Ricardo Juarez.
Just how much pressure is on Viloria to win gold in Sydney was revealed this week in a full-page Sports Illustrated photo. He is painted entirely in gold, posing like a statue.
Viloria also has the largest individual action photo in TV guide's Olympic preview this week.
But he said he's not awed by the attention. He's thriving on it.
"What really fires me up is that there are going to be millions and millions of people out there watching me box," said Viloria. "I want to entertain them and give them something to talk about at the dinner table."
When he beat Romero, Viloria did an impromptu hula in the ring to celebrate. He said he'll probably be less showy in Sydney. Especially with Fidel Castro breathing down his back.
"It's going to be more down-to-business at the Olympics," he said.
The U.S. and Cuba are the only countries that will have full 12-boxer teams.
The U.S. and other nations had to qualify their fighters in an unprecedented series of tournaments in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
The Cubans were exempt from qualifying because they were ranked No. 1 in the world.
Sydney 2000 Olympics