Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez adds extra punch to Golovkin card

Promoters can overdo it on the hype, but when Tom Loeffler announced last week that he’ll send the world’s top two boxers to the Madison Square Garden ring on Saturday night, there were no snickers.

“I believe it,” Loeffler said.

Before unbeaten World Boxing Assn. middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin attempts to begin his title unification effort against International Boxing Federation champion David Lemieux on the HBO pay-per-view card, another unbeaten known as “Chocolatito” will be on stage.

Roman Gonzalez, an unbeaten flyweight world champion from Nicaragua, shares the same zero on his loss ledger as boxing’s retired pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Gonzalez doesn’t act compelled to tell the world about it.

And his all-action style actually makes him the anti-Mayweather.

When Gonzalez (43-0, 37 knockouts) came to L.A. Live’s Conga Room recently to promote his title defense against veteran former two-division champion Brian Viloria, he humbly discussed his remarkable rise and his bid to lift the usually cast-aside 115-pound division to prominence.

Following the massive letdown of the much-hyped and long-awaited “Fight of the Century” between Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio, and the massive disinterest in Mayweather’s “goodbye” fight against Andre Berto last month, indications are the crowds will swarm to Saturday’s card and the Nov. 21 card headlined by once-beaten, power-puncher Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and rugged Miguel Cotto, who has four losses on his ledger.

Loeffler told The Times on Monday that MSG will be sold out of 20,000-plus tickets for Golovkin’s first pay-per-view.

Will Gonzalez feel any extra pressure or change his style of fighting in New York City and on pay-per-view for the first time?

“No, I’m not nervous,” he said in Spanish. “I’m extremely happy and excited for the amazing opportunity to fight at [MSG]. We are almost ready for this great fight, which we know will be a difficult fight.

“But we feel with the preparations we have made and the conditioning I have done, we feel we have all the qualifications to come out with our hands raised.”

Asked what opponent he would like to fight next if victorious against Viloria, Gonzalez said, “We’ll see what happens next, maybe a possible fight with [Juan Francisco] “El Gallo” Estrada, who many fans have been asking for, but we will see what happens and go from there.”

Gonzalez and Estrada waged a compelling battle in November 2012 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, just seven months after he fought at Fairplex in Pomona.

Gonzalez staged another thrilling performance at the Forum in May, knocking out Edgar Sosa in the second round and gaining a greater following in both the Southland and the U.S.

He understands his exciting style has contributed to this, a contrast to Mayweather that Gonzalez is more than willing to continue providing.

“I like ‘Chocolatito’ because he brings a very aggressive style and excitement to the flyweight division,” Loeffler said. “He is undefeated and considered one of the most dominant fighters in the sport and always brings fireworks to the ring, like a mini GGG [Golovkin].”

Gonzalez thanked Loeffler and God for the exposure, not in that order.

“Giving me the opportunities to fight on these big cards [has allowed] the fans of the United States [to] see my fights and see the quality of fighter that I am and my exciting style,” Gonzalez said.