Roman Gonzalez lived up to his new status as boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter with a ninth-round TKO of Brian Viloria on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Gonzalez, who improved to 44-0 with 38 knockouts, retained his WBC flyweight title when the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 53 seconds of the ninth round.

Viloria (36-5, 22 KOs), who was knocked down for the first time in his career in the third round, hurt Gonzalez with a body shot.

Gonzalez didn’t throw a punch for roughly 20 seconds as Viloria continued his onslaught. As soon as Viloria let up, Gonzalez went to work with a series of combinations that knocked Viloria back into the ropes before the referee stopped the fight.

"I knew that I was going to face a really good rival like Brian Viloria, but I came in my best condition to win this fight," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez landed 335 of 805 punches thrown and 315 of 571 power shots. Viloria landed 186 of 594 punches thrown and 161 of 460 power shots.

Viloria, a former four-time world champion, has lost his past two title fights.

"He’s No. 1 for a reason," Viloria said. "He’s very strong, very precise with his punches."

Honolulu Star-Advertiser boxing writer Billy Hull and HBO’s Howard Lederman had Gonzalez ahead 79-72 after eight rounds with Viloria winning the first.

ESPN’s Dan Rafael had Gonzalez ahead 78-73 with Viloria winning the first two rounds.

The fight changed in the third when Viloria ate a short right hand and dropped to the canvas. It was the first time Viloria had been knocked down in 43 professional fights and more than 200 amateur fights.

"That came quick," Viloria said. "I didn’t expect that right hand to land clean like that. I’ve got to get into him. He has really crisp punches and caught me with the right hand."

The fight was the co-main event of a card headlined by Gennady Golovkin, who retained his middleweight title with an eight-round TKO of David Lemieux. The fight was broadcast on HBO pay-per-view and was just the second 112-pound fight showcased on an HBO PPV in the last 20 years.

More than 20,000 were in attendance at a sold-out MSG, including Roberto Duran, presidential candidate Donald Trump and actor Michael J. Fox.

Gonzalez was elevated to the No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking by ESPN, Yahoo Sports and Ring Magazine following Floyd Mayweather’s retirement in September.

Gonzalez has won his past 10 fights by knockout.

"Truthfully, all of (Viloria’s) punches hurt, but when you have very good physical conditioning, you can withstand all of those punches," Gonzalez said. "He’s very tough. My corner would tell me to attack the body quite a bit and attack the top with the same hand."

Gonzalez earned a reported $250,000 for the fight while Viloria’s purse was $100,000.

Viloria, who turned professional in 2001, will be 35 years old next month.