MANILA, Philippines - Without trying to sound arrogant, Nicaraguan flyweight king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has his battle plan laid out against challenger Brian Viloria.
Gonzalez and Viloria, the big boys in the 112 lb class, square off on Oct. 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York to spice up Gennady Golovkin’s next title fight.
It should go down as the biggest fight in the lower ranks this year.
Gonzalez, 28 years old and undefeated in 43 fights, knows what he’s up against but said he thinks that Viloria will not be able to hold.
The Nicaraguan with 37 knockouts, most if not all sensational, vowed to stop Viloria, the 34-year-old Filipino-American, 36-4 with two no-contests.
“I’m not being disrespectful but I think I have the strength to win by knockout,” said Gonzalez in a chat with www.boxingscene.com.
“My mission is to knock him out and keep proving that I am the best in the world in my class,” said Gonzalez.
With a little over two months before the fight, Gonzalez now has his mind set on training in the mountains of Big Bear, along with Golovkin.
Viloria, the former light-flyweight and flyweight champion of the world, has strung up four straight wins, the last three by knockout.
He will most likely train in Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym.
The member of the US Team to the 2000 Sydney Olympics is back in the swing of things since he lost his WBO and WBA flyweight titles to Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada in Macau in 2013.
Gonzalez beat Estrada in a huge light-flyweight matchup in 2012.
Only last month, Viloria knocked out Omar Soto in the 2:02 mark of the opening round of their scheduled eight-rounder in Hollywood, California.
Right after his sensational win, Viloria announced his readiness to challenge for the world title once more, against anybody.
Now he’s up against the reigning flyweight king.
Viloria vowed to give boxing fans “something they will talk about for a very long time.”
Regardless of what happens.