By Mark Eisner: Former #1 pound-for-pound king Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (48-2, 40 KOs) made his successful ring return on Monday night in halting 26-year-old journeyman Diomel Diocos (14-6-3, 4 KOs) in the 2nd round at the Arena in Yokohama, Japan. Referee Yuji Fukuchi stopped the fight at 2:20 of round 2.
The fight took place in the bantamweight division as Gonzalez weighed in at 115¾ lbs, and the Filipino Diocos at 115 1/2 lbs. Gonzalez plans on fighting at super flyweight (115 lbs) in 2020, and he wants to go after a world title against one of the champions.
Gonzalez looked powerful
Chocolatito Gonzalez, 32, hurt Diocos with a left to the body in the 2nd round. Shortly after that, Gonzalez landed a big right hand that staggered Diocos. The referee Yuji Fukuchi stopped the action and gave Diocos a standing eight count for him to collect himself. But as soon as the fight resumed, Gonzalez was all over Diocos landing shots to the body and the head, and the referee stepped in and called a halt to the fight.
Diocos was still on his feet, but he was in bad shape. There was still too much time left in the round for Diocos to have survived to hear the bell.
In round 1, Gonzalez followed Diocos around the ring, blocking shots, and studying him. Diocos threw a lot of punches at Gonzalez, but they lacked power. They were mostly arm punches, and Gonzalez had little problems blocking them. When Diocos did on occasion, Gonzalez showed no signs of being hurt.
Diocos hurt by body shot from Chocolatito in 1st round
Towards the end of the 1st round, Chocolatito Gonzalez hurt Diocos with a left to the body. Immediately, Diocos went on the retreat mode to get away from Gonzalez, and he was able to make it out of the round. Gonzalez probably could have finished Diocos in the 1st round if he’d wanted to, but he didn’t bother pressing the action. It’s as if Chocolatito knew he would win the fight at any time, so he stayed patient.
Gonzalez stepped up the pace in the 2nd round in pressuring Diocos, and hitting him with left hooks to the body and straight rights to the head. Diocos was trying hard to protect his body from Gonzalez’s left hooks, and he forgot about blocking the head shots. This enabled Gonzalez to hurt him with a right hand to the head.
Gonzalez then unloaded with a blizzard of shots that had the badly hurt Diocos reeling. At that point, the referee Fukuchi stopped the action and gave Diocos a badly needed standing eight count for him to recover. It was no use, however, as Gonzalez resumed unloading on Diocos when the fight resumed, and the referee had to step in to pull the Nicaraguan Gonzalez off of him.
Roman Gonzalez expects to win world title in 2020
“I’ll regain the world belt in 2020 and dedicate it to Nicaragua and Japan,” said Gonzalez at the end of the fight.
Ideally, Gonzalez needs another tune-up or two before he challenges for a world title in 2020. It might be a mistake for Gonzalez to jump into a title fight right away in the first half of 2020, but you can never count him out. Gonzalez knows what he’s capable of doing at this point in his 14-year professional career.
It’s unclear which world champion Gonzalez will target in the super flyweight division in 2020. He’s already beaten WBC 115-lb champion Juan Francisco Estrada in the past, but that was seven years ago in November 2012. That was a close fight, and some boxing fans felt that Estrada had done enough to deserve the victory.
The judges were more impressed by the combination punching, and the power of Chocolatito in that contest. Each time Gonzalez got near Estrada, he would unload on 3 to 4 punch combinations, and that obviously swayed the judges. The scores were 118-110, 116-112, 116-112. Gonzalez still has the style to beat Estrada, but we don’t know if his age and ring rust will be a problem for him.
Gonzalez looking to rejuvenate his career
This was the former 4 division world champion Gonzalez that boxing fans had remembered, as he impressive tonight. Going into the Diocos match, Gonzalez had lost 2 out of his last 3 fights in defeats against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (47-5-1, 41 KOs). Both defeats for Gonzalez came in 2017. He fought only once in 2018 in defeating Moises Fuentes by a 5th round knockout.
Gonzalez didn’t have the right fighting style for him to beat Rungvisai, who is powerful fighter with heavy hands. The way to beat Rungvisai is to box and move the way that Juan Francisco Estrada did in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision last April in Inglewood, California.
As long as Gonzalez stays away from Rungvisai at 115, he should be okay. The only two fighters that have punished Gonzalez during his career are Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras, and both fights took place at 115.
These are the options for Chocolatito at 115 to fight for a world title in 2020:
- Juan Francisco Estrada – WBC
- Khalid Yafai – WBA
- Jerwin Acajas – IBF
- Kazuto Ioka – WBO
Chocolatito coming off of 15-month layoff and knee surgery
Gonzalez was coming off of knee surgery, and 15 month layoff since his last fight against Fuentes on September 15, 2018. Chocolatito needed that time off to have knee repaired, and rehab it for him to return to action. Gonzalez looked good tonight, and showed no signs of favoring his previously injured knee.
The knee injury greatly slowed Gonzalez’s career in 2019, because he could have fought for a world title against the likes of Yafai.