Brian Viloria. AFP FILE PHOTO
Former flyweight champion Brian Viloria gets another shot at a world title against reigning champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez on Oct. 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The fight, which promises to be an exciting one, is a co-featured bout on the undercard of the middleweight unification title bout between Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux.
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“I’ve fought and won on the world’s biggest stages against the best of the best. I’ve prepared my whole life to win at every level of competition from world amateur titles to the Olympic Games to professional world titles,” Viloria told ESPN.com. “And this fight against Roman Gonzalez is likely to be my biggest challenge yet. But it’s Roman’s biggest challenge too. This is the realization of my dreams and I will make the most of it on fight night.
“I applaud Roman for accepting this fight. Together we will give boxing fans something special, something they can talk about for a very long time,” said the 34-year-old Viloria.
Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs) is a former WBA and WBO champion but lost those belts to Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico two years ago. But since that split decision loss, he has been on a resurgence winning his three of his last four fights by knockout within five rounds.
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But beating the undefeated Gonzalez, one of the top pound-for-pound fighters today, is a whole different story.
The Nicaraguan, which holds an impressive record of 43-0, with 37 knockouts, is coming off a second round demolition of former junior flyweight titleholder Edgar Sosa last May at the Forum in Los Angeles.
“I know Brian Viloria is a great [former] champion and it will be a hard fight, but I am ready for the challenge,” Gonzalez said. “I have faith that God will give me the strength to keep training and be able to give all my fans my best fight ever.”