Brian Viloria believes he has what it takes to spring the upset. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The little guys are finally taking center stage. It just took longer than expected.
Brian Viloria will challenge USA TODAY Sports No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, Roman Gonzalez, on Saturday at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the WBC flyweight title. The bout will serve as the HBO pay-per-view co-feature to Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux, the kind of exposure the 112-pound weight class hasn’t enjoyed in over 20 years.
Viloria, 34, is a decided underdog, but he’s not just happy to be on this stage. He’s here to win and knows he has what it takes to unseat the Nicaraguan dynamo.
“I’m not fazed. I’m not fazed at all,” Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs) said on the Boxing Junkie Podcast. “In face, I think it’s the other way around, I think he’s a little intimidated by me, I can see it in his eyes. … He’s a regular guy like me, he has ability to lose given the stars align and the right circumstances. I truly believe I have what it takes to beat a guy like Roman Gonzalez.”
“Chocolatito” may be a regular guy, but he sure doesn’t act like one inside the squared circle. The 28-year-old has never lost in 43 bouts and has scored a whopping 37 knockouts along the way. Gonzalez has turned back the challenges of some of the sport’s best along the way, including Juan Francisco Estrada and Akira Yaegashi.
“The Hawaiian Punch” presents a different kind of test altogether. He’s a savvy vet who is quick on his toes, packs a mean punch and is willing to mix it up. They share a common opponent in Estrada, whom Viloria lost to, but the Wild Card fighter believes the experience made him a better boxer.
“That fight taught me a lot about pacing myself throughout the 12 rounds, not trying to go for the knockout every single round that I step in there,” shared Viloria, an avid Los Angeles Lakers fan. “I learned a lot in that fight. I came back with my last three fights ending in knockout — body shots.
“And just trying to settle down, set the pace for myself. I can go into this fight the same way with Roman Gonzalez; try to pace myself and not try to push the action too much. And just try to pick my battles, pick my fights, and try to take it to him and box him if I have to; be versatile in the ring.”
Viloria is no stranger to being an underdog, and it only fuels him. He was widely picked to lose against Giovanni Segura and Hernan Marquez, and was able to stop both fighters inside the distance.
With his HBO debut one day away, Viloria is ready to upset the odds one more time, and you can’t sense a tinge of fear in him.
“I’m used to (this stage),” he said. “I don’t really get nervous, I get more anxious. It’s like being a kid on Christmas Day. You really want that day to come and you can’t wait any longer. I just want to go in the ring and perform. My physical game has been fine tuned.”
It was Gonzalez’s fighting spirit and dominance that brought the flyweights back to relevance. HBO televised Gonzalez’s win over Edgar Sosa in May, the network’s first bout at such a small weight since the mid 1990s. Viloria is happy Gonzalez put the division back on the map, but he plans to make sure they stay there.
“This is the type of stage I’ve been looking for for the past couple of years,” said Viloria. “To finally be here and for it to finally materialize on Saturday, I think it’s the biggest fight I’ll have in my career. I almost compare this to a Super Bowl of the sport of boxing, you can’t get any bigger than this: HBO, the mecca of boxing at MSG, fighting in front of sell-out crowd. It’s something that a fighter can only dream of.”
