These little fighters, along with the tsunami of Eastern European boxers, are providing a strong foundation for boxing?s resurgence?
?I?m honored to fight at the Forum where my idol (and mentor) Alexis Arguello fought four times?I believe this fight will steal the night.??Rom?n Gonz?lez
?I don?t expect any setbacks. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.??Edgar Sosa
?Rom?n Gonz?lez is one of the brightest lights in boxing?Those who know the cognizant of boxing, hardcore fans, members of the press, have great awareness to the spectacular fights that he?s been in as well as the fight he?s in next week that augurs to be a tremendous all-action fight with Edgar.?? Peter Nelson, HBO Vice-President of Programming
?The division is rich, and obviously there?s one burgeoning, rising star at 115 pounds (Naoya Inoue) and obviously there?s going to start to be an appetite to see those two comets collide.??Nelson
Rom?n ?Chocolatito? Gonz?lez, who has mostly fought in Nicaragua, Japan and Mexico, is no longer a ?best-kept secret? as tonight he fought on HBO?s big platform and mainstream American boxing fans got a long-awaited (though short) look. And even though the fight lasted less than two rounds, it was more than worth the wait as Chocolatito may well have stolen the show from none other than Gennady Golovkin.
In the precise manner of the great Ricardo ?El Finito? L?pez, Chocolatito (43-0) combined his devastating power with picture-perfect technical skills as he throttled Sosa with a carefully engineered plan of destruction beginning midway in the first round. He then blew away the ex-champion (now 51-9) in the second round with three crunching knockdowns. The first came as a result of a right cross. The second resulted from a left hook. And the third and final knockdown came at the end of a savage, albeit precise volley of heavy-handed blows that had the crowd up and roaring. He was everything hardcore fans expected and more as he landed 59% of his power shots. Chocolatito, a great sportsman, added to his aura by making sure Sosa was okay as soon as the stoppage occurred.
As an all-around fighter, Rom?n has few peers though two other fighters?Golovkin and Naoya Inoue come to mind. Gonz?lez fights in a fan-friendly manner and has an extremely high ring IQ. RING magazine has Gonz?lez rated number three in its pound-for-pound list; I have him at number two and climbing all over the back of the ?TBE.?
In the ultra-talented flyweight division, Gonz?lez rules the roost ahead of such notables as Juan Francisco Estrada, streaking Thai Amnat Ruenroeng, the always tough Brian Viloria, Edgar Sosa (who probably will now retire), the exciting Japanese fighter Kazuto Ioka who just beat Argentinean Juan Carlos Reveco in Osaka, Moruti Mthalane of South Africa, rugged Giovani Segura, and Puerto Rican McWilliams Arroyo who recently lost a split decision to Ruenroeng in Thailand. Aside from Chocolatito, any of these fighters can beat the other on any given night. In some respects, these little fighters, along with the tsunami of Eastern European boxers, are providing a strong foundation for boxing?s resurgence.
Says Peter Nelson of HBO:
?There is still plenty of richness in the flyweight division itself?We?ve seen fighters at that weight reinvent themselves with greater regularity than fighters at heavier weights. We?ve seen that in iterations of careers, whether we see the great fights with [Juan] Estrada; Brian Viloria is constantly a threat. Fighters like this can always make good, quality fights with a fighter like Rom?n Gonz?lez, who always comes to fight. He?s an all-action kind of fighter. So there?s a great profound richness to the division. It also augurs well for what else is there for him if he decides to move up in the coming years.?
Gonz?lez, a three-division titlist, is looking better and better in each new weight class he enters and is bringing his debilitating power with him. Down the road, one possible showdown is a Gonz?lez-Estrada rematch but should Gonz?lez make the move to 115, there is a mega fight waiting for him and the fans in Naoye Inoue.
