By Ian S Palmer
After a year layoff, former WBC Junior Bantamweight Champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez of Nicaragua returns to the ring against Moises Fuentes of Mexico City this Saturday, September 15th. The 10-round bout is on the undercard of the Golovkin vs Alvarez rematch and can be seen in the U.S on HBO pay-per-view as well as on BT Sports pay-per-view in the UK. Gonzalez is coming off of back-to-back losses to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand and was stopped in the fourth round in their rematch last September. Fuentes last saw action in February when he was stopped in the first round by Daigo Higa in a shot at the WBC Flyweight Title.
The 31-year-old Gonzalez was known as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet before running into Rungvisai. He first lost to him in an upset back on March 18th when he beat Gonzalez by a controversial majority decision to take his title and hand the former champion his first career defeat as a pro. Gonzalez was dropped in the opening round of their meeting and Rungvisai was deducted a point for head butting in the sixth, but he managed to fend off a late surge by Gonzalez to win the crown.
Gonzalez is a former four-division world champion and won the WBC Junior Bantamweight Crown in September of 2016 before meeting Rungvisai. He has also been a titleholder at minimumweight, light-flyweight and flyweight. Gonzalez climbs through the ropes with an excellent record still of 46-2 along with 38 Kos to his name. He’s well known for his speed, power and boxing skills and had 10 straight Kos on his record until going the distance with McWilliams Arroyo in April of 2016. However, Gonzalez has now gone the distance in his last three of his last four fights.
Gonzalez still has plenty of power though with a current knockout ratio of 79 per cent. But he’s also a good technical boxer. His mobility allows him to control the ring and he likes to use his aggression to unleash quick, painful combinations on his opponents whenever he sees an opening. He’s not the best defensive boxer in the world and the past two bouts leave a question mark about his chin. Gonzalez turned pro in 2005 and has 231 rounds of experience since then. He stands 5-feet-3-inches tall and has a wingspan of 63 inches.
He won the WBC Flyweight Title when he stopped Akira Yaegashi in the ninth round in September of 2014. He then defended it two months later by stopping Rocky Fuentes in six rounds and then beat Valentin Leon by third-round TKO in February of 2015. After that, he stopped Edgar Sosa in two rounds in May of 2015 and then Brian Viloria in nine rounds in October of 2015. He also has wins over Juan Francisco Estrada, Omar Salado, Omar Soto, Francisco Rosas, Katsunari Takayama, Yutaka Niida and Manuel Vargas.
Fuentes is 30-years old and he’s basically a light flyweight/flyweight so is coming up in weight for this fight even though he’s bigger than Gonzalez at just over 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 68-inch reach He’s been struggling lately with three losses in his last four fights. His current record is 25-5-1 with 14 Kos and he’s been stopped three times. This includes losing to Higa in his last bout as well as being stopped in the fifth round by Kosei Tanaka in December, 2016 and by Donnie Nietes in the ninth round in a shot at the WBO Light Flyweight Title in May, 2014. He also drew with Nietes a year earlier in a title shot.
Fuentes distance defeats came to Juan Hernandez Navarrete by 12-round split decision in 2011 and by 10-round majority decision to Ulises Lara last year. Fuentes turned pro in 2007 and has boxed 173 rounds since. He isn’t a big hitter with a current knockout ratio of 45 per cent, but is a fine boxer who has was once the WBO World Minimumweight Champion and has also won the Interim WBO Light Flyweight Title and Interim WBC Youth World Minimumweight Title in the past. Fuentes has gone 3-3-1 with 2 Kos in world title fights and 4-4-1 with 2 Kos against former or current world titlists including wins over Raul Garcia, Ivan Calderon, Oswaldo Novoa and Francisco Rodriguez Jr.
Prediction…
Fuentes is taller than Gonzalez and has a five-inch reach advantage, but he’s not a natural junior bantamweight. He has a name though, is a former world champion, and has plenty of experience, but his chin is questionable along with his power. Gonzalez is trying to regain his confidence after two straight losses and should be able to stop Fuentes in doing so.
