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Monday, March 27, 2000
Viloria can
By Pat Bigold
lock up U.S. Olympic
berth this week
Star-BulletinBrian Viloria can officially become the first Hawaii athlete to claim an Olympic boxing berth in 43 years this week.
Having already won the 106-pound Olympic team trials and a qualifying box-off, all he has to do is finish runner-up at the North American qualifier tournament in Tampa, Fla., which began today.
It's an exercise to thin the ranks of the crowded 2000 Sydney Olympics boxing field.
Viloria is expected to ease through the test against boxers he's already beaten.
While relaxing in his hotel room on Friday, he told the Star-Bulletin that he finally feels like a complete boxer.
"The right hand is coming on and the jabs are coming," Viloria said. "Every combination I throw is crisp, hard punches.
"My body punches are getting stronger. As a boxer, I'm just becoming stronger."
Viloria has been getting to bed by 10 p.m. and gets up before dawn every day to run five miles.
He prefers to have five snacks a day rather than three meals. He is also avoiding sweets and fried foods.
And alcohol? Forget it.
"I don't see what satisfaction you get from drinking," said Viloria.
"My satisfaction is coming out on top and reaching the goals I set out to reach."
When he's bored, he goes out to a mall to buy a novel, plays the guitar or writes music.
Viloria, who owns a lap-top computer, also taught himself to create his own website.
"But I'm going to study more about HTML and go back to improve it," he said.
Staying out of trouble has never been a problem for Viloria, whose Olympic journey began a few days after he graduated with honors from Waipahu High in 1998.
"I never had a graduation party," he said.
He was bound immediately for the nationals.
Viloria's travels have taken him all over the world, but last year was his most eventful.
He beat Cuba's 1996 gold medalist Maikro Romero for the world amateur title last August in Houston. Viloria won American titles at the National Golden Gloves, the National Amateur Boxing Championships and the U.S. Challenge.
He also defeated China's national champion at the Multi-Nation Festival of Amateur Boxing in Liverpool, England).
Success hasn't changed Viloria, according to close friend and former sparring partner, Arthur Valeriano.
Valeriano met Viloria at Waipahu High and stays in touch with him via email when he's away.
"No matter how good he gets and no matter how many titles he claims, he'll be the same Brian I met in history class," Valeriano said.
"The way he presents himself in the ring and outside the ring, there's perfect balance."
Viloria, a broadcast journalism student at Northern Michigan University, said he likes to meet and converse with students.
When he came back to the islands last month after winning the Olympic team box-off in Connecticut, he made visits to local schools, including his alma mater.
On a visit to talk with Filipino immigrant youngsters at Radford High, he said one student asked if he gets mad when he's in the ring.
It was the right question.
"No, I try to be a controlled fighter rather than a wild, angry fighter," Viloria said.
"You have to be cool in the ring, show a poker face. If you hurt somewhere, you can't show it."
Having already beaten Cuba's best fighter for the world belt, and being the personal student of former U.S. Olympic boxing coach Al Mitchell, Viloria knows his chance of medaling at Sydney is considered golden.
But he refuses to get comfortable, not even during the qualifier.
"I know it won't come to me," Viloria said. "I have to just go out there and take it myself."
Sydney 2000 Olympics
