‘Chocolatito’ Overwhelms Viloria, Scores Another Knockout

Brian Viloria represented the United States in the 2000 Olympics and captured world titles at junior flyweight and flyweight. “The Hawaiian Punch” has locked horns with some of the best of his era, but none of that mattered Saturday night.

Fighting in front of a packed Madison Square Garden on HBO Pay-Per-View, Viloria had his hands full. He admitted coming into his WBC flyweight title fight with defending champion Roman Gonzalez that he needed to be perfect. Had Viloria fought exactly how he did on Saturday against any other fighter, he likely would have been victorious.

That’s how brilliantly destructive “Chocolatito” was.

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Viloria had never been knocked down in his career before his brutal battle with the powerful Nicaraguan. But a minute into the third, he was picking himself up off the canvas, the recipient of a perfect counter right to the chin that he never saw.

From that point forward, Gonzalez laid the lumber to the Hawaiian and never relented. Viloria was forced into slugfest after slugfest and though he took as good as he received for several rounds, Viloria slowly broke down and succumbed to the power.

Gonzalez’ ferocious attack to the head and body systematically reduced Viloria to a battered former world champion gasping for air. By the time the eight came to a close, it wouldn’t have been out of question if the Hawaiian’s corner threw in the towel. It didn’t, which allowed Viloria to take a beating in the ninth.

Brian did hurt the defending champion with a nasty right to the body and it seemed like a miracle come-from-behind knockout might unfold before the boxing world’s eyes. But when Viloria failed to capitalize on the winded and wounded Nicaraguan, the fight was over.

Gonzalez nailed his challenger with a sizzling right to the noggin, which backed Viloria into a corner. A left hook-left uppercut combo wrecked Brian’s equilibrium and when a dizzying combo sent Viloria from one corner to another, his legs as rubbery as one of those toy octopi that walk down walls, veteran referee Benjy Esteves Jr. had no choice but to halt the mugging with seven seconds left in the stanza

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“I knew I was going to face a really good fighter like Viloria,” said Gonzalez (44-0, 38 KOs). “But I came in the best condition to win this fight.”

Viloria (36-5, 22 KOs) said that Gonzalez, who has held world titles in three different weight classes, is definitely the best fighter he’s ever faced.

Cuban heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz was far too much for Argentinean foe Matias Ariel Vidondo to handle and he proved it by stopping him in the second. Ortiz used terrific hand speed and volume punching to continuously pepper his foe and when he found the right time to let his power loose, Vidondo had no prayer.

A blistering right to the head wobbled the larger Vidondo late in the second and a follow-up combo of lefts and rights dropped him. Vidondo was able to beat the count and survive the round, but he was scorched just 17 seconds into the next frame. A laser-like right-left flattened Vidondo (20-2-1, 18 KOs) along the ropes, ending the fight, allowing Ortiz to rise to 23-0 with his 20th knockout.

The opening bout of the telecast saw Bahaman-born Tureano Johnson (19-1, 13 KOs) have to earn a lopsided unanimous decision over Ireland’s Eamonn O’Kane (14-2-1, 5 KOs) after nearly ending the middleweight bout in the first. Johnson floored his foe twice in the opening frame, but couldn’t finish him, leading to a wonderful back-and-forth brawl that lasted the full 12 rounds. In the end, Johnson was the far better fighter and won the IBF title eliminator via tallies of 118-108, 117-109 and 119-107.