Shadow boxing - Being Viloria in the age of Pacquiao

“Three Filipinos in The Ring’s Top Ten Pound-for-Pound list. How good does that sound?” Brian Viloria asked, a day after defeating Giovani Segura late last year. Segura was then ninth in Ring Magazine’s list of the best fighters in the world and Viloria thought he was going to get his spot, and join Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire. But he didn’t. Segura was removed from the rankings and the fighter at number 10 took his place. When Viloria finally learned that he did not make it to the mythical list, he was totally cool about it. That’s what happens when you hit rock bottom and make your way out alive. It gives you perspective. It tells you that people may not think you are one of the best, but you know you’ve come a long way. When Viloria lost his IBF light flyweight title against Carlos Tamara two years ago, he wondered if boxing was still worth it. He was rushed to the hospital after that fight and as the minutes turned to hours, Viloria decided that if he was to quit boxing, he did not want it to be this way. “I looked at Erica who was still my girlfriend then and I thought to myself that I could not let her go through this again,” Viloria said as he looked back on that fateful day that changed everything. After that painful loss, Viloria rededicated himself to boxing. He turned his back on clubbing and on junk food. Instead, he slept early, ate healthy food, and trained hard. The result was the second wind of Viloria’s already sterling professional boxing career. If he had called it quits after losing to Tamara, his career could still be considered successful. He was an Olympian and a two-time world champion. But people might remember him best for unmet expectations and untapped potential. That’s why he decided to fight on. If he was to retire, Viloria wanted to do it on his own terms, not because he lost his last fight, and definitely not because other people said he was done. With his wife’s help, Viloria listed down the things that he wanted to accomplish in his career. “I asked him to think hard and decide on what he really wants to do before he retires from boxing,” said Viloria’s wife Erica. “He told me that he wanted to be a unified champion and make it to the Top 10 pound-for-pound list.” After finally deciding what he wanted, Viloria turned to the difficult part, which was to put in the work to make his dreams a reality. Since his loss to Tamara, Viloria has strung together six straight victories. He claimed the WBO flyweight title against Julio Cesar Miranda, defended it twice, then last November 17 (November 18 in Manila) annexed the WBA flyweight title with a win over Hernan Marquez, the first time the flyweight titles were unified in 50 years. “I think my win over Marquez is right up there with my win over Segura,” Viloria shared. In that fight, he floored Marquez three times en route to a tenth round technical knockout. The victory was much sweeter because Robert Garcia, Viloria’s former trainer, waved the white towel for Marquez. Garcia and Viloria did not have a good parting, and in that match Viloria did what he’s getting really good at: getting payback and making believers out of former doubters. However, after the biggest win of his career, Viloria arrived with little fanfare. The throngs of media members and government officials that usually greet the arrival of Manny Pacquiao from his latest victory were largely absent. It’s normal to wonder if Viloria feels bad about the lack of attention he receives. But if you ask Viloria, he’ll tell you that he does not mind living in Pacquiao’s shadow. “Manny has done so much for Philippine boxing,” Viloria said, “And he does not stop at being just a fighter, he’s also helping in other ways.” Though some of us might think that being a boxer in the age of Manny Pacquiao is a curse, Viloria chooses to look at it differently. While others might bemoan the fact that anything they accomplish in their boxing career will not be enough to dislodge Pacquiao from his lofty position as the best Filipino boxer ever, Viloria simply cherishes the fact that he is one of the fighters who ushered in the golden age of Philippine boxing. Viloria has silently built a résumé that can rival the records of the best fighters in the world over the last two years. He is the unified flyweight champion, the first to achieve this feat in almost 50 years. He is the first Filipino fighter to win a world title from all four of boxing’s top organizations. He is also the number one ranked challenger in Ring Magazine’s list of the best flyweights in the world, only behind largely unproven Japanese champion Toshiyuki Igarashi. Viloria knows that his career will only be good for another handful of years and at the end of it all, he does not wish to be remembered as someone who tried to be Manny Pacquiao. He wants to be remembered as Brian Viloria, a fighter who believed in himself when no one else would, an individual who went through fire and brimstone to get back to the top, and a boxer who was one of the best Filipino fighters in history. - AMD/OMG, GMA News