Fourteen years since making his professional debut, Brian Viloria will fight on the stage he has long coveted.

The four-time world champion will meet the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world in undefeated WBC flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez on Saturday night at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York.

The fight will be shown on HBO pay-per-view with Viloria and Gonzalez in the co-main event. The show is headlined by undisputed and undefeated world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin defending his belts against David Lemieux.

“I’ve fought at Staples Center and fought at Araneta Coliseum (site of the “Thrilla in Manila”) and those were huge fights,” Viloria said Tuesday. “This is a different animal. Here in the United States, it’s on HBO pay-per-view, and it’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. You can’t get any bigger than that.”

For years, Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs) and manager Gary Gittelsohn have been outspoken about the lower weight classes getting shunned by the premium cable networks, that HBO and Showtime didn’t think flyweight fighters were worth featuring.

When Gonzalez defeated Edgar Sosa on a Golovkin undercard televised by HBO in May, it was the first time the network aired a flyweight fight in 20 years.

Now, a month before his 35th birthday, the Waipahu-born former Olympian is tasked with showcasing the 112-pound division against Gonzalez, who with Floyd Mayweather’s retirement has taken over as the top pound-for-pound guy in the world in rankings by ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

That record, 43-0 with 37 knockouts, is what convinced HBO to make a 112-pound fight a co-feature bout on a pay-per-view.

“A lot of this has to do with Roman exploding onto the scene and winning fight after fight and destroying guys left and right,” Viloria said. “Everything had to fall into place the way it did for this to happen. I’m aware (HBO) is trying to build him into a premier fighter and I’m going to try to put a screw into that engine on Saturday and take the crown away from him.”

Gonzalez is a heavy favorite but Viloria, has always been dangerous as the underdog in a fight.

He knocked out Ulises Solis to win the IBF light-flyweight title six years ago when Solis was considered to be the top guy in the division.

Two years later, Viloria handed Giovani Segura only his second career loss when he dominated him in an eighth-round TKO.

That was followed up a year later with a 10th-round TKO of Hernan Marquez in a unification title fight. Marquez was nicknamed “Tyson” because of his punching power, but was knocked down in three different rounds by Viloria.

On that same card at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, Gonzalez fought in the co-feature behind Viloria and defeated Juan Francisco Estrada by decision.

At the time, a Gonzalez/Viloria fight was rumored to be in the works, but people in the Viloria camp believed Gonzalez was ducking Viloria.

Viloria didn’t mention him by name but admitted it was hard getting a fight after the Marquez fight.

“People were dodging me a couple of years ago,” Viloria said. “All of the accolades (Gonzalez) is getting he deserves because he’s been doing it for years now and people are finally catching wind of it. But I think this is going to be a resurgence in my career when I do beat him on Saturday.”

Viloria’s only loss in his last 11 fights was a split decision to Estrada, while Gonzalez has knocked out nine straight opponents since Estrada took him to a decision.

Viloria’s last three wins have come via knockout by the fifth round.

This fight validates Viloria’s decision to remain fighting into his mid-30s.

He was taken to a hospital after losing his IBF belt to Carlos Tamara in January 2010 but returned six months later to eventually score the knockout wins over Segura and Marquez.

When Estrada beat Viloria in Macao, China, in April 2013, Viloria took 11 months off. During that time, he and his wife, Erica, welcomed their first child, but he eventually got back in the ring and has won all four fights since.

“There’s so many times where (I) could have hung it up and forgot about this sport,” Viloria said. “Sooner or later I’m going to have to come across that bridge and hang it up, but I know I have a lot left in the tank.

“I know the enormity of this stage and what I’m getting myself into. Every time I stepped into a gym and put my (boxing) gloves on and listened to (trainer) Freddie’s (Roach) game plan, I’ve thought about this moment. This is the mecca of boxing and I want to be the best I’ve ever been for the world to see.”