Former two-time world light flyweight champion Brian Viloria feels great and can’t wait for his title fight against WBO flyweight champion Julio Cesar “Pingo” Miranda at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu on Sunday.
In an overseas telephone conversation with the Inquirer on the eve of the title fight, an excited Viloria said his weight was good at 111.6 pounds and he planned to capitalize on the fact that the Mexican champion “had to lose a couple of pounds” to make the 112 lb limit.
Viloria said he faced the same problem when he fought as a light flyweight and said having to shed off weight “takes a lot of you and it’s a couple of pounds in a couple of hours, and I’m going to try and capitalize on that by going down to the body.”
He said that from now until he enters the ring “its all mental preparation” after working hard in the gym since January and having sparred 150 rounds.
Viloria said Miranda “covered himself with plastic and coat and when I looked at him he was gaunt and looked drained out.”
The 30-year-old Viloria (28-3, 16 KOs), whose parents hail from Ilocos Sur, has been training at the Kalihi Gym in Honolulu and the Maywood Gym in California in a determined effort to prove he still has what it takes to win another world title.
Viloria described the 31-year-old Miranda (35-5-1, 28 KOs) as “a tough fighter who goes in there and wants to exchange and wants to take his opponents out.
According to Viloria, however, Miranda throws a lot of wild punches and drops his hands a lot, weaknesses that he can exploit.
ABC TV 5 will telecast the Viloria-Miranda fight from Honolulu at 11 a.m., back-to-back with the 10-round welterweight tune-up bout from Cancun, Mexico, between Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez ( 52-5-1, 38 KOs) and Colombian southpaw Likar Ramos (24-3, 18 KO’s) at 3 p.m.
At the official weigh-in, Marquez tipped the scales at 138 lb while Ramos came in at 140. The fight is regarded as a tune up for Marquez prior to his much-awaited trilogy with pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas.