Viloria set up for another big bout after latest win

A first-round TKO victory on Saturday night set up Brian Viloria for a potentially big payday.

Manager Gary Gittelsohn said he expects to talk with HBO executives as early as Monday to finalize a title fight between Viloria and undisputed WBC world flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez as the co-feature on an Oct. 17 HBO pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs), a four-time world champion, hasn’t been in a title fight since losing the WBO and WBA flyweight belts to Juan Francisco Estrada in April 2013.

“(HBO) wants a strong co-feature, so they are looking at putting Roman Gonzalez in a real test,” Gittelsohn said. “I’ve already had some initial discussions with the folks at HBO and with Brian’s win last night there’s a lot of heat on Gonzalez (to make the fight).”

Gonzalez is 43-0 with 37 knockouts and ranked No. 2 on Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list behind Floyd Mayweather Jr.

WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, ranked No. 4 on the pound-for-pound list, will headline the Oct. 17 card against David Lemieux in a fight to unify their 160-pound world titles.

Viloria, who has also held the IBF and WBC light flyweight titles, has won four consecutive fights, including three straight by knockout in the fifth round or earlier.

He disposed of Omar Soto on Saturday night, scoring three knockdowns in the first round, landing a nasty right hook to the body that ended the fight in 122 seconds.

Now 34 years old, Viloria has put himself in position for one last run at a fifth world title.

“He always stays in good shape and never lets himself get seriously out of weight,” Gittelsohn said. “Obviously you can’t pursue this line of work forever, but right now there are no indications he has lost a step.”

Gittelsohn said there have also been talks for a Viloria rematch with Estrada for the WBO and WBA belts as early as late September.

A Top Rank event for those dates hasn’t been made official, and even if it was, Gittelsohn said they’d wait and try to secure the Gonzalez fight instead.

“I was willing to do (the Estrada fight), but I think plans have changed, although I don’t know for certain,” Gittelsohn said. “Even if it wasn’t in jeopardy I would hold out for this better opportunity. Gonzalez is the talk of the town.”

Gonzalez hasn’t gone the distance in a fight since beating Estrada on the same card on which Viloria knocked out Hernan Marquez in the main event in November 2012.