Marvin Somodio, who is one of the trainers at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, feels strongly that former world champion Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria can once again become at player at 37-years-old.
Viloria (38-5, 23 knockouts) is set to fight ArtemDalakian of Ukraine on February 24 for the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight title at the Forum in Inglewood California. The contest is part of the "Superfly 2" card.
“He (Viloria) is very much determined to be a world champion again and we believe that he’s still capable of doing it,” Somodio said to the Manila Times. "If we do not believe in him, why we waste our time in training? He remains a dedicated fighter and very disciplined. He is still very explosive."
Viloria has a lot of miles on the gas tank, but Somodio says the boxer still got what it takes to become a world champion though he admits that some necessary tweaks are needed with respect to certain aspects of the boxer’s training.
“At the same time, this is his last chance to win a world title. There is a lot of gas left in his tank but we just have to remind him how and when to aggressively attack his foe. We also need to remind him sometimes to slowdown in training,” Somodio said.
Viloria has won two fights in a row since getting stopped by Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez on October 17, 2015.
Somodio felt Gonzalez did not properly pace himself in the contest, by throwing most of his arsenal in the early rounds.
“The only problem that I saw in his previous bout against Gonzalez was his early peaking. He came up short in most fights and he gassed out. He tried to finish off Chocolatito in the first round, but he could not sustain his aggression in the later rounds. I believe he learned from that loss,” said Somodio.
“We really need a good timing in our executions because Brian is more of a counter-puncher.”
Dalakian, 30 and ranked at number 1 by the WBA, is undefeated in 15 fights, 11 of which he won by way of knockout. Viloria is currently ranked at number 2.
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