Viloria: At the crossroads

The remarks Brian Viloria uttered after he lost his World Boxing Council (WBC) light flyweight title last Friday evening (Saturday morning in Manila) at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to unheralded Mexican challenger Omar Nino Romero via unanimous decision are very revealing. The remarks of Romero after the fight also speak a mouthful about the attitude the Mexican had about the fight and its impact on his life and his family.

Right after the fight, Viloria was quoted by the Agence France Press (AFP): " I was disappointed in my performance. I just fought a really dumb fight and he fought my fight — came prepared for this fight. I just had a bad night and Omar fought a smart fight."

That statement by Viloria brings to mind American tennis star Andre Agassi’s own comments about the beauty of sports. A few days before one US Open tennis match, Agassi was interviewed about the prospects of defeating his opponent and adding that year’s US Open title to his numerous trophies. Agassi remarked that the beauty of sports is precisely that you never know until you step into the court what special things your opponent has in store for you.

It is clear that Romero did prepare special things for Viloria. The Mexican, who was an amazing 14-1 underdog, did the often taken for granted technique of using his jab as often as he could. "I knew if he (Viloria) was going to beat me, he was going to hit me with counters as long as I kept my jab out there, he wasn’t going to counter anything."

Prior to the fight, Romero, ranked No. 10, looked every inch the handpicked opponent whose role was to give Viloria a decent workout (and a hefty paycheck too) before a mega buck unification bout with World Boxing Association champion Kiko Kameda of Japan. Reading the write ups of Romero and seeing his unimpressive record, I had thought the 30-year-old Mexican who was fighting outside of his native town Guadalajara for the first time, was going to be a hapless opponent of Viloria. I was wrong.

I was wrong because I did not expect Romero to look at the bout as a mission rather than just a title fight. Nearing the end of what looked like a lackluster career, Romero saw the fight as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his and his family’s lives better. He therefore approached the fight with single minded dedication, "I came here with one thing on my mind and that was winning the title," according to our colleague Quinito Henson who quoted Kevin Iole of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

As for Viloria, his post-fight statements seem to indicate doubts about his appetite for continuing a boxing career. Henson reported that Viloria "confessed that when training for Romero, he (Viloria) sometimes felt he was just going through the motions. I got so immersed in boxing that it was like boxing was controlling my life and not me controlling boxing. I got caught up too much in the sport. I want to be able to regain control of my life."

What the statements seem to show is that Viloria might have reached that point that he doesn’t find joy and fulfillment anymore in what he’s doing. Viloria may have reached what is tantamount to burnout or the feeling of weariness one feels after passionately devoting oneself to one endeavor for so long a time and then stopping at some point to ask oneself the basic questions: Why am I here?; Why am I doing this? Is it worth it?

At this point, personal satisfaction over what one is doing will be the most important factor in how Viloria (and his father, who seems to have a profound influence over him) will chart his future. The simple truth is that successful people (athletes included), are achievement oriented and derive, as Bruce Ogilvie stated in "On Sport," best seller of James A. Michener (Hawaii, The Source, Centennial), personal satisfaction from their striving.

Ogilvie continues, "All things considered, the successful athlete is at his very best when the odds are slightly against him. Ambitious people derive slight joy, if any, when their ability remains uncontested. (Great) athletes do not dwell on their losses but concentrate upon that part of their performance that limited their excellence."

Viloria may have reached that point where he needs to "concentrate upon that part of his performance that limited his excellence" but will do so if and only if he is to continue his boxing career with the same passion that he had at the beginning. Otherwise, Viloria may as well move along and pursue other career interests that he has like broadcast journalism and earn a college degree.

For those of us who do not have the heavy burden of making that decision and therefore have the luxury of philosophizing about sports and life in general, it might be good to remember what Michener said, "Of course I have found winning to be more satisfying than losing; if I had never experienced victory, I might have acquired some psychological dislocation but I feel that the average man or woman ought to be able to absorb a fair amount of defeat, and if some superjock growls, ‘That merely proves you’re a born loser, and there’s nothing in the world lower than a loser,’ I no longer argue with him. I can only look at him with bewildered compassion."

And sympathy, if I may add.