Viloria, Gonzalez make weight for flyweight clash

MANILA, Philippines – World flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez and two-division champ Brian Viloria both weighed in at 111.4 pounds on Friday, October 16 for their 12-round clash Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Both Viloria (36-4, 22 knockouts) of Waipahu, Hawaii and Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs) of Managua, Nicaragua stepped on the scale wearing underwear and made weight comfortably. Gonzalez, 28, held up the Nicaraguan flag on stage while the 34-year-old Filipino-American showed off the Philippine flag.

(READ: Viloria an underdog against ‘Chocolatito,’ and that’s how he likes it)

Gonzalez is fighting for the first time since being elevated to the top position on THE RING magazine’s pound-for-pound list last month after the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Viloria has won 4 straight since his last defeat in 2013.

Viloria, a 2000 U.S. Olympian, was a two-time junior flyweight titleholder and previously unified the flyweight titles.

“Perfect fight,” said Viloria, when asked what he needed to hand Gonzalez his first defeat. Roman is a great fighter and a great champion. Nicaragua should be proud of him because he’s representing his country very well.

“I’m just gonna go in there and let it all out. Let my hands go and let it fly, and let him taste some of that Hawaiian Punch.”

Gonzalez, who had won titles at 105, 108 and 112 pounds, has defeated all comers, knocking out 14 of his last 15 fights. The fight will be Gonzalez’s third title defense since knocking out Akira Yaegashi in September of 2014 to win the 112-pound belt.

For the main event, Gennady Golovkin weighed 159.8 while David Lemieux weighed 159.4 for their middleweight title unification bout.

The sold-out event is available on HBO Pay-Per-View for $49.95 in the United States. In the Philippines the fight will be shown live on cable on Fox Sports at 9 am, and on delay at 1 pm on TV5. – Rappler.com