Roach wary of Mexican challenger

LAS VEGAS — Trainer Freddie Roach said yesterday Mexican challenger Jose Antonio Aguirre deserves the respect of a former champion and won’t be an easy opponent for World Boxing Council (WBC) lightflyweight titleholder Brian Viloria in their scheduled 12-round bout at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino here tonight (tomorrow morning, Manila).

Roach flew in from Los Angeles last Thursday night and will be in Viloria’s corner with cutman Ruben Gomez. He supervised Viloria’s two-month training for the bout at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and said the "Hawaiian Punch," who traces his roots to Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, is well-prepared to retain his crown.

Aguirre, 30, won the WBC minimumweight crown on a majority decision over Wandee Singwangcha in Thailand in 2000. He made seven successful title defenses before losing the throne to Eagle Kyowa in Japan in 2004.

Viloria logged his last four rounds of sparring at the Wild Card Gym last Monday then arrived here with his father Benjamin that evening. He finished about 120 rounds of sparring and weighed a fourth of a pound over the lightflyweight limit of 108 two days ago.

"I feel great," said Viloria on the eve of the weigh-in. "I’m on weight. I’m ready to do what it takes to beat Aguirre. I can go 12 rounds if I have to. I feel it will go as long as I want it to go."

Roach said Viloria has too much speed and power for Aguirre although he cautioned not to take the Mexican lightly.

"When Brian starts throwing, I really don’t think Aguirre can take his shots," said Roach. "There’s nobody in the lighter weight divisions who hits as hard as Brian."

Viloria’s father, who is a nutritionist by avocation, said unlike in his son’s fight against Eric Ortiz last September, weight wasn’t a problem this time.

"Brian was 114 pounds four days before the Ortiz fight," said Viloria’s father. "We didn’t realize we were using wrong scales. He easily lost two pounds after a hard run but it was difficult to lose the rest. Luckily, he made the weight and took out Ortiz in just one round. Against Aguirre, Brian made the weight easily. His diet was controlled and carefully monitored. I gave him his dose of food supplements, potassium and molasses with rice. Freddie even had to slow down his workouts because he was worried Brian would peak too soon."

Viloria’s father said his son took on a wide variety of sparmates, most of whom weighed much more, to train for Aguirre.

"Sometimes, he had to hold back his punches because it didn’t make sense to knock out his sparmates," said his father. "But even when he held back, several sparmates wound up going down. Fighters who are bantamweights and superbantamweights couldn’t take his punches."

Roach said he’s been busy attending to other fighters in his burgeoning stable, like Peter Manfredo, Juan Lazcano, Diosdado Gabi and James Toney.

"Manfredo was supposed to fight Sunday but a snowstorm postponed it to the next day then I had to take a flight from Providence, Rhode Island, back to Los Angeles to train Lazcano, Gabi and Toney," said Roach. "It’s been quite a week. But I’m excited to see how Brian does against Aguirre. We’re in for a good fight."

Viloria’s father said he doesn’t expect rough sailing for his son.

"Brian is a natural 112-pounder and bigger than Aguirre who used to be a 105-pounder," said his father. "We’ve studied Aguirre on tape and we think he’s too slow for Brian. We know he runs against hard hitters but he won’t be able to stay away from Brian who’s quicker. Brain will cut him off. If he stands up to slug it out, Brian will just run over him. Brian won’t go for an early knockout. He’ll take his time to study Aguirre but if the opening comes for a knockout, he won’t hesitate."

Last Thursday, Viloria ate oatmeal and drank calamansi juice with honey for breakfast after an hour’s workout on a treadmill to simulate jogging at the Aladdin Hotel gym. He also did calisthenics for 45 minutes in the afternoon for a sweat. Viloria didn’t eat lunch or dinner and slept at 7:30 p.m.

The prevailing odds show Viloria a 4-1 favorite to repulse Aguirre. That means for every $200 bet on Viloria, the return is only $50 if he wins.

Viloria’s mother Rose, sister Roxanne and brother Gaylord arrived from Honolulu yesterday to watch the fight. Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis (Chavit) Singson flew in from Manila last Thursday night to provide morale support for his fellow Ilocano.