This Saturday night (October 17, 2015), Madison Square Garden hosts big time boxing as Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux fight to unify Middleweight titles. The co-main event sees WBC Flyweight Champion Roman Gonzalez (43-0) take on veteran Brian Viloria (36-4). Gonzalez was recently named the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world by RING Magazine, and this fight is being featured as his coming out party. Gonzalez, known as “Chocolatito”, is a huge (-3000) favorite over Viloria, who is returning at (+1500). There is no over/under set for this twelve round bout. Gonzalez is battle tested, as he is already (2-0) in 2015 and he went (4-0) in 2014, fighting several times in that span in Japan under hostile conditions. All six of those wins were by KO, and he has 37 stoppage wins in his career. He is disciplined and well trained, and he has held world championships in three different weight classes. At 28 years old, he would appear to have several good years ahead of him still. For his part, Viloria has held world championships at Light Flyweight and Flyweight and he was still in a title fight as recently as 2013, when he lost his WBO and WBA Flyweight titles to Juan Francisco Estrada. Since then, he has won four in a row, including the last three by stoppage. At 34 years old, he finds himself just a bit past his prime heading into this fight. In a 12-round Heavyweight bout for an interim WBA World title, undefeated Luis Ortiz (22-0) faces Matias Ariel Vidondo (20-1-1). Ortiz is a huge (-3400) favorite over Vidondo who returns at (+1450). Ortiz is from Cuba and comes with a massive amateur resume. As a pro he has solid recent wins over veteran Monte Barrett and then undefeated prospect Lateef Kayode. This is Vidondo’s first fight outside his native Argentina, and his lone loss came to Brazil’s Ireneu Beato Costa, who has proven to be a journeyman on the international level. The final 12-round bout sees Middleweight Eamonn O’Kane (14-1-1) face Tureano Johnson (18-1) in an eliminator bout for the IBF World title. Ireland’s O’Kane is a big underdog, paying (+1400), while Johnson is favored paying (-2500).
