One way for Brian Viloria to look at his World Boxing Council light flyweight championship fight today, is that if he punches out Jose Antonio Aguirre he might be punching his ticket home, too.

Viloria will be making the first defense of his world title today on the "Real Warriors" card at the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. It will be televised via pay-per-view.

Viloria, who is 18-0 with 12 knockouts, won the championship with a spectacular first-round knockout of Eric Ortiz in September.

Gary Gittelsohn, Viloria's manager, said he has talked with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum about bringing a triumphant Viloria to Honolulu for a second defense, should he get past Aguirre, who is 33-4-1 with 20 knockouts.

"Bob Arum and I are both salivating at the prospect of bringing Brian back to Hawai'i (for a title defense)," Gittelsohn said. "It would be a great show and we can make it happen."

Viloria, a Waipahu High graduate, hasn't fought in his home state since April of 2003.

But first he has to get past the one they call "The Jaguar." Aguirre, a native of Mexico, is making his third attempt at a light flyweight title. He lost to Roberto Vasquez by fourth-round technical knockout in August, and to Ortiz by seventh-round TKO last March.

Aguirre and Viloria both made the 108-pound weight limit yesterday.

"I'm expecting a technical fight," Viloria said. "I don't think he'll want to slug it out with me. He might be on his bike a little bit, but I'm prepared for anything."

Aguirre, 30, held the WBC minimumweight (105 pounds) title for more than four years (1999-2003) before moving up three pounds to challenge for the light flyweight (108) title.

"He's a former world champ and he's been through a lot of wars," Viloria said. "I've been training really hard for this, as hard as I've trained for any fight."

Las Vegas oddsmakers are favoring Viloria. He is listed as an 8 1/2 to 1 favorite.

"Jose Aguirre is an extremely strong boxer with a very good knockout record for this weight division," Gittelsohn said. "But we believe Brian is a better athlete and quicker."

Viloria, 25, said the championship belt has made him "a more confident fighter." What's more, he said the "Ruben Contreras thing" is behind him.

Contreras was in a medically induced coma for several weeks after suffering a sixth-round TKO loss to Viloria last May.

Contreras has since recovered, and was at ringside for Viloria's championship victory over Ortiz.

"That brought closure to it," Viloria said. "I believe I'm a lot better fighter now because of all the things I went through with that and I think it can only help me."

If Viloria can prevail today, one potential future opponent is Mexico's Jorge Arce, who is the WBC flyweight champ (112 pounds). Arce attended yesterday's weigh-in and is expected to be in attendance at today's fight.

"I said would you like to fight Brian next?" Gittelsohn said. "And he told me he'll fight Brian anytime, anywhere. I said how about Honolulu? And he said sure. So hopefully we can get something going with that."

NOTES

Gittelsohn said Viloria will wear green and gold trunks today — "Waipahu colors," he said — with both the American and Philippines flags on it.

The Eastside Grill on University Avenue will show the card starting at 4 p.m. Entry fee is $15.