SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- At home in Hawaii, Brian Viloria gives up 150 pounds or so when he gets into scraps with his younger brother, a beefy senior center on his high school football team.
Maybe that's why the U.S. boxing team's 106-pounder didn't blink when put into the ring Sunday against a Russian boxer who towered over him.
"I always win," Viloria said.
Viloria, of course, was referring to his sibling rivalry with 250-pound Gaylord Viloria. But he might as well have been talking about a spectacular amateur career he hopes ends two weeks from now with an Olympic gold medal.
The smallest member of the U.S. boxing team took a step in that direction Sunday when he opened his Olympics with an 8-6 win over Sergei Kazakov that was more functional than entertaining.
Viloria sensed as much when he immediately promised to get better.
"I expect a lot more out of myself," he said. "I'm the type of boxer who gets better as the week goes on."
Though the 19-year-old did manage to beat a reigning European champion in Russia's Kazakov, he will indeed have to be sharper if he wants to add an Olympic gold medal to the world championship gold he won last year in Houston.
He'll also have to learn to finish a fight better, a trait that the three winning Americans who fought before him all showed off at the Sydney Exhibition Center.
Viloria boxed his way to a 6-1 lead with some good counter punching in the first two rounds, then seemed to back off and allowed Kazakov to dictate the pace of the fight the final two rounds and make it much closer than it should have been.
"I didn't want to be too careless in my first match," Viloria said.
Kazakov was at least 6 inches taller than Viloria, who stands only 5-foot-2 but packs a wallop that got him the nickname "Hawaiian Punch."
When Viloria stopped pressing the attack on the inside in the final two rounds, he allowed Kazakov back into the fight with his longer arms.
"I was expecting Brian to come on in the last rounds and instead the other guy came on in the last rounds," U.S. coach Tom Mustin said.
Viloria followed a strong punching exhibition by 132-pound teammate David Jackson earlier in the day with a more defensively oriented fight that kept Kazakov from scoring often but did little to win over the crowd.
The results, though, were the same -- a pair of wins that kept American fighters undefeated through four Olympic bouts on the opening weekend of the games.
"The pattern I'm seeing with our guys is they are strong in the third and fourth rounds," Mustin said. "We trained five weeks in altitude (in Colorado Springs, Colo.) and I think it shows."
The U.S. team isn't the only one off to a quick start. Three Cubans have fought so far, and all three have won easily. They include Maikro Romero, who will be Viloria's semifinal opponent if both continue to win.
Romero, the 1996 Olympian champion at 112 pounds, dropped down in weight and would have to be considered the gold medal favorite despite the fact Romero beat him 9-2 in last year's world championships.
Romero is even taller than Kazakov, but that's familiar territory to Viloria, who not only has a 250-pound brother, but also a sister who is taller than he.
"For a long time I thought I was adopted," he said.
While Viloria was expected to be a medal contender for the United States, the performance of Jackson in his 132-pound fight against Naoufel Ben Rabah of Tunisia was a bit more of a surprise.
Jackson wasn't even supposed to be on the American team, getting his spot only when Marshall Martinez decided to turn pro after already making the squad.
"We call him Nine Lives because he's lucky to be here," Mustin said.
Jackson, a 24-year-old from Seattle, returned to the sport this year after an absence of two years and struggled while dropping his weight from 180 pounds. Against Rabah, though, he looked quick and strong in turning in a dominating 19-7 win in his first fight.
"It's been a real struggle," Jackson said. "I don't feel too much pressure. I'm just out to do my best. I'm looking to win the gold."
