Now or never for Viloria

Manila, Philippines - For challenger Brian Viloria, losing to WBO flyweight champion Julio Cesar Miranda of Mexico will likely mean the end of his boxing career. That’s how his chief second and cutman Ruben Gomez reads the situation facing the Hawaiian Punch who takes on Miranda in a 12-round bout at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu tomorrow night (Sunday morning, Manila).

“It’s a must-win fight for Brian,” said Gomez in a phone interview from Honolulu yesterday. “If he loses, I don’t think he should continue fighting. For what? The money isn’t worth it in this weight division. I’d rather for Brian go back to school and do productive things with his life because he’s so gifted. We love Brian too much for him to be just an opponent. The way I see it, if Miranda wins, it’s over for Brian.”

Gomez’ assessment has upped the stakes for Viloria. It isn’t only the title he’s pursuing but also a new lease on his boxing life.

Gomez has been in Viloria’s corner since he turned pro in 2001. As a cutman, he worked five fights with Manny Pacquiao, including the knockout win over Lehlo Ledwaba for the IBF superbantamweight crown. For the Miranda bout, Gomez will be joined in Viloria’s corner by trainer Mario Morales and WBA female superfeatherweight titleholder Kina (Dinamita) Malpartida of Peru.

Fighting in Honolulu where Viloria was born has its good and bad points, said Gomez. “It works both ways,” he explained. “The hometown crowd support can pump you up and give you an extra boost. But because of that, you try to do more than you should and it could get you off your gameplan just to please the fans. Personally, I see fighting at home more of an advantage. Brian is very focused on winning. He won’t want to disappoint the homecrowd.”

Gomez said Viloria is well-prepared for battle. “We had an excellent camp,” he noted. “Brian’s a true trouper. He worked his butt off in the gym. He did everything he was asked to do. He gave it 110 percent. He did things he never did before in training for a fight. An example was when he did a three-mile run up Mount Baldy in San Bernardino off Los Angeles with guys like Antonio Margarito, Giovani Segura and Miguel Angel Vazquez.   We drove up to a point 5,000 feet above sea level then he ran up to where it got to 8,500 to 9,000 feet. Even cars have a difficult time going up that incline. That was a killer run and Brian did it.”

Gomez said Viloria is on weight and right on target. The other day, he weighed 112.8 pounds, just a fraction of a pound over the limit. “He’s exactly where he wants to be in terms of weight,” said Gomez. “He didn’t have food deprivation. Remember, he began his career at 112 then went down to 108 to fight for a world title. Now, he’s back up to 112 and he’s comfortable in this division.”

As for his sparmates, Gomez said Viloria worked out with Alex (Hands of Steel) Solorio, Japanese switch-hitter Takashi Okada and superbantamweight Raymond Chacon. Viloria logged about 150 rounds of sparring.

“Alex is strong and a volume puncher,” said Gomez. “Okada fights just like Miranda who likes to switch-hit. We expect Miranda to go orthodox and southpaw so Brian got used to that with Okada who gave him a lot of different looks.”

Gomez said the atmosphere in Honolulu is festive. “Everywhere Brian goes, he’s mobbed by fans wishing him well,” he said. “We expect a good turnout at the stadium. We got in from Los Angeles two days ago and local promoter Tom Moffat has done a great job building up interest in the fight. There are lots of requests for media interviews and Brian is always surrounded by fans taking his picture or asking for his autograph. The fans are really supportive of Brian. It’s been a while since Honolulu hosted a world title fight so this is something special particularly as Brian is involved.”

Hall of Famer Joe Cortez will be the referee. The judges are Dr. Ruben Garcia of Texas, Robert Hoyle of Las Vegas and Tamotsu Tomihara of Honolulu. A late complaint from the Miranda camp caused the replacement of Robert Byrd by Hoyle and Filipino lawyer Danrex Tapdasan by Tomihara the other day.

Viloria, 30, is coming off back-to-back wins after losing the IBF lightflyweight crown to Carlos Tamara on a 12th round stoppage in Manila early last year. He has won nine of his last 10 to improve his record to 28-3, with 16 KOs. The other defeats suffered by Viloria were decisions to Omar Niño Romero in 2006 and Edgar Sosa in 2007.

Miranda, 31, has a 35-5-1 record, with 28 KOs, including four in the first round. He’s making the fourth defense of the WBO title. Last February, Miranda disposed of Filipino challenger Arden Diale in four rounds. He won the vacant throne via a fifth round stoppage of another Filipino Richie Mepranum who was floored thrice in the massacre. Miranda has won his last five outings, all inside the distance, and hasn’t lost since dropping a decision to Moruti Mthalane in South Africa three years ago.