Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez: A Star Without a Spotlight
Nicaragua’s undefeated champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez fits the bill as to what the sport demands in terms of its stars — a combination of skill in tandem with will, pride and courage, as well as humility. Yet, despite being ranked #3 pound for pound, he remains relatively unknown to the casual fan due to the lack of publicity he has been given.
That is perhaps set to change, as Gonzalez appears in the co-feature to this weekend’s Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux HBO pay-per-view card from Madison Square Garden, against Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria. For Gonzalez, this marks his second straight outing on HBO, and an opportunity to become by far the biggest star in the small guy divisions, that boxing has seen in a generation.
Often case, the more publicity a fighter gets, the more the average fan begins to think a decent fighter is a great fighter. An example of this can be seen in the early rises of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Canelo Alvarez, and of course, with Adrien Broner. While Canelo has largely legitimized his stardom, for Broner and Chavez Jr., they were always destined to fall short in comparison to the amount of publicity and hype they were given.
Gonzalez, on the other hand, is a three divisional world champion who has campaigned at minimum weight, light flyweight and flyweight, and holds a record of 43-0 with 37 of his victories won by knockout. He has fought the top of his weight classes and has won in astonishing fashion. Already ranked as the 3rd best fighter in the world on ProBoxing-Fans.com, it can be argued that Gonzalez just might be the best fighter, period, surpassing the self proclaimed “TBE” himself.
Unfortunately, the pound for pound list of certain websites or publications has been treated more like a popularity contest. While Floyd Mayweather spent much of the “end” of his career breaking money records while fighting in largely ho-hum affairs, Chocolatito has been on a different path. Gonzalez has fought and beaten all the top contenders and champions in the divisions no one seems to care about. He’s the biggest, baddest, littlest dude on the block.
If you look at the careers of Gonzalez and Mayweather, Gonzalez surpasses him with an average of four fights a year, along with far more knockouts, and a more exciting, fan-friendly style. Unfortunately, Gonzalez had to toil away in obscurity until his major network debut in May of this year, when he defended his title against Mexican veteran Edgar Sosa. He dismantled Sosa in two rounds, and to say the least, the major network debut of Gonzalez, was a smashing success. He was paired up with Gennady Golovkin on that night — what a 2 punch combination those fighters make — and now he gets that privilege again, on the Golovkin-Lemieux undercard.
Due to the weight classes he competes in and the lack of publicity he has received throughout his career, here at ProBoxing-Fans.com, we’ve been vocal supporters of Gonzalez, and we encourage fight fans to tune in for themselves to watch him defend his flyweight title this weekend. Gonzalez vs. Viloria is a fight that just could provide Gonzalez the limelight that he has earned, and the fight is one of the best pay-per-view undercard matches in recent memory.
You know that Golovkin always vows to provide a “Big Drama Show”. This Saturday night, the most intriguing drama may occur right before GGG enters the ring.
