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Viloria slams In one fight, Brian Viloria took two more steps toward the championship he hopes to win someday.
his sixth
Star-Bulletin staff
Viloria had another opponent back out of a scheduled fight, but stepped in against an even better man and beat him.
Viloria, 21, getting the television time he is so eager for, knocked out Leonardo Chucky Gutierrez in the fourth round in New York on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights to run his record to a perfect 6-0 with four knockouts.
Gutierrez, a 26-year-old who turned professional when Viloria was 14, dropped to 23-27 but was knocked out for only the 11th time.
Viloria's manager, Gary Gittelsohn, had his eye on Gutierrez for a future fight but didn't want to risk it yet. It turned out to be not much of a risk.
"I didn't want to bring him (Gutierrez) in for another couple of fights," Gittelsohn said. "He can throw some leather, but Brian is just too good."
Viloria ended it in the fourth round when he crumpled Gutierrez with a left-right-left combination to the head, then floored him again 20 seconds later with a left hook to the body.
"I was really surprised," Viloria said. "I hit him in the body, but I didn't think he would fall down."
Viloria cautiously pressed the issue in the first two rounds, landing 49 punches and only getting hit 21 times, according to ESPN statistics.
"That guy is dangerous, he can take punches," Viloria said. "I didn't want to rush anything, I just wanted to get him committed to throwing the right hand and get my shots in."
Viloria is committed to returning to Hawaii to fight, Gittelsohn says he knows his fighter will be fighting in Honolulu in May -- probably May 17 -- but is trying to set up another fight on the West Coast before then. Gittelsohn doubts it will be televised.
And it is the televised bouts that make people stand up and take notice of Viloria.
"It is so important I can't even quantify it," Gittelsohn said. "There are guys that win fights, and there are guys that win and excite people. Brian is one of the latter."