Viloria broke the news to USA TODAY on Monday as fans awaited news of the identity of Gonzalez’ opponent. The unbeaten Nicaraguan has been named as the main supporting attraction in the Golovkin-Lemieux undercard but his opponent had not been named until Monday’s announcement.
“USA TODAY Sports @USATODAYsports 2h2 hours ago Brian Viloria will fight Roman Gonzalez on HBO PPV on Oct. 17: http://bit.ly/1IGgdOx” the announcement show.
“I’ve always gotten up for big, huge fights like this,” Viloria, 34, said. “Especially fights where I’ve been the underdog. I actually relish in that a bit. They don’t know if I still have what it takes to beat a guy like Roman Gonzalez. This is the type of fight that gets me pumped, gets my blood flowing and extremely motivates me in trying to perform to the best that I can.”
Gonzalez is coming off a TKO win against Oscar Sosa at The Forum, Inglewood, California to retain his WBC and The Ring flyweight titles.
The Nicaraguan veteran of 43 pro fights has a high knockout ratio of 91 percent, having dispatched 37 of his 43 opponents by knockout.
Viloria is fresh off a first-round knockout win against Omar Soto last month, his third successive knockout victory in his last four fights.
It would be a tough fight for Viloria (35-4-0, 21 KO’s), who is now on his fourth straight victory since losing to Juan Francisco Estrada in 2013.