‘Hawaiian Punch’ Viloria training like a mad man for world title unification

Reigning WBO flyweight champion Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria is busy training for his upcoming fight against WBA flyweight champion Hernan “Tyson” Marquez of Mexico. The fight was originally scheduled for September 29 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California but it has since been moved to another date, yet to be determined. This title reign is Viloria’s third and he is hell-bent on making it count. The Hawaiian Punch won the WBO crown via a unanimous decision victory over Julio Cesar Miranda back in July 2011, and he has since successfully defended the title twice with stoppage victories over Giovani Segura and Omar Nino Romero.

Against Marquez, Viloria aims to be the second Filipino to be presently holding unified titles, alongside unified WBO and IBF super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire. Marquez on the other hand revived his career after back-to-back losses to Richie Mepranum and Donaire back in 2010. He won the WBA flyweight title with an 11th round technical knockout win over Luis Concepcion, and followed that up with four more victories, three of which came against Filipinos. For this title unification fight, Viloria has hired a new guy to help him out with his training. Marvin Somodio, a local trainer from Baguio’s Shape-Up Boxing Gym, will join Ruben Gomez in Viloria’s corner. Somodio has been Freddie Roach’s assistant whenever Manny Pacquiao trained in Baguio and earlier this year, Roach helped Somodio procure a US visa so he can work full time at the Wild Card Boxing Gym. The diminutive Somodio now stays in Roach’s apartment and is handling the day-to-day running of the popular Los Angeles gym, while training amateur and professional fighters. “Brian’s punches are very strong,” said Somodio. “I’ve never worked the mitts with a stronger flyweight.” Somodio is stepping in for Mario Morales, who has trained Viloria for the past couple of years. “I don’t know why Morales is not with Viloria anymore. It might be passport related because that became a problem in Viloria’s last fight in the Philippines,” Somodio commented. To prepare for his unification fight, Viloria is sharpening his old weapons. Viloria’s right straight is still his bread and butter, but he added a nasty left hook to his arsenal. Somodio also said that they are investing a lot of time in fine-tuning Viloria’s body punches. “Brian is training really hard. He does not look like a guy who’s already 31 years old, because he’s faster and stronger than he was before,” Somodio opined. “I think it will be a good fight because Marquez is also a slugger, which suits Brian’s style.” Somodio also said that he is both excited and nervous about the upcoming fight. “If Brian wins, it will be because he is a good fighter but is he loses, it will be my fault because I’m the new trainer,” he quipped. “But I’m confident that Brian will be a unified world champion very soon.”  - AMD/OMG, GMA News