LIHU‘E — Brian Viloria will be making an appearance at the Hanapepe Boxing Club around 6 this evening, Garrett Tehero said. The two-time boxing world champion was humbled as he spoke to young student athletes from the Lihu‘e Kaua‘i Police
LIHU‘E — Brian Viloria will be making an appearance at the Hanapepe Boxing Club around 6 this evening, Garrett Tehero said.
The two-time boxing world champion was humbled as he spoke to young student athletes from the Lihu‘e Kaua‘i Police Activities League program, Monday afternoon, escorted by Tehero, one of his friends who was showing him the island.
Viloria, the current International Boxing Federation Junior flyweight (108 pounds) champion, stopped by the K-PAL boxing stable and chatted with the student-athletes who gathered from the boxing practice and the K-PAL Lihu‘e Patriots Flag Football program that was practicing at the North Vidinha fields.
“I think he heard that K-PAL boxers debuted last month and since he was on-island, decided he would check us out,” said Kaua‘i Police officer Mark Ozaki, a K-PAL coordinator.
As the students piled into the small training facility, silence prevailed as the tiny Waipahu-born native made his way through the crowd of young bodies.
“When I see you, I’m humbled,” Viloria said. “I’m humbled because I see myself in you.”
Viloria, who earned his current title after battling Mexican Ulises “Archie” Solis for the title on April 19, said the belt never comes without hard work. In answering a student’s question, he verified the belt is “real gold and real diamonds.”
“I train every day,” Viloria told the students. “Usually, I’m the first one there and usually one of the last ones out. Kobe Bryant does the same thing and so does a lot of the other people who are well-known in their sports fields. Championships are won in training.”
Working through the message of staying away from drugs and the wrong kind of people, Viloria said, “Listen to your parents and listen to your coaches. My coaches told me the same thing I’m telling you, but I look at my coaches like they’re my fathers. Listen to them, they know what’s good for you and they want to protect you.”
Viloria said being the best comes with passion in what you are doing.
“Look at the obstacles in front of you in the eye,” Viloria said. “I saw what was ahead of me and said, ‘I’m going to pass you by.’”
Thirty fights later, Viloria was on his way to the Olympics in Australia.
“There was a teacher who looked at me and when I told her I wanted to be a champion, to make it to the Olympics, to travel the world, she looked at me and said that was not going to happen,” Viloria said. “I went to Sydney in 2000. I wanted to prove that teacher wrong.”
That trip to the Olympics came following his amateur world title he earned at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston, Texas, but at the Sydney Olympics, he dropped a match against Brahim Asloum, an opponent he had beaten at the Houston championships.
“When I saw the teacher, she started crying,” Viloria said. “She said she didn’t think I could do it, but now tells all her students they can be whatever they want to be if they believe in themselves.”
Ozaki told the students that no one is too small or too young.
“When Viloria was going to the Olympics, pound-for-pound, he was the hardest hitter in the ring at 106 pounds,” Ozaki said. “Until he entered the ring, Hawai‘i was relatively unknown in the boxing world. But here comes a Hawaiian pineapple rolling over everyone.”
Ozaki said Viloria earned his first national title at 13 and made it to the Olympics at 18 years old. Since turning pro, Viloria has amassed a 25-2 record with 15 knockouts.
“Go out and do it,” Viloria said. “Sure, you’re going to fail. I did. I lost matches. But a true champion gets up and goes again.”
