Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Hirotsugu Yamamoto results

By Boxing News - 09/25/2016 - Comments

By Jim Dower: Former two division world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (62-4, 52 KOs) won his fourth straight fight in defeating 33-year-old journeyman Hirotsugu Yamamoto (19-13-2, 3 KOs) by a 1st round knockout last Saturday night at the Oasis Hotel Complex in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

The 35-year-old Gonzalez knocked Yamamoto down twice with big left hooks to the head. Yamamoto was badly hurt after the second knockdown and the fight needed to be stopped. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:59 of round one. Yamamoto got back to his feet after the second knockdown and was staggering around the ring.

Gonzalez looked clumsy at times in throwing wild right hands that missed badly, causing him to stumble off balance. On one occasion, the southpaw Yamamoto nailed Gonzalez with a right hand to the head after one of his wild misses. It was fortunate for Gonzalez that he wasn’t fighting a better opponent, because he might have wound up getting knocked out again.

Gonzalez was beaten by Jonathan Oquendo by a 10 round majority decision last year in September. In March of last year, Gonzalez suffered a 5th round knockout loss to Gary Russell Jr. Gonzalez lost his World Boxing Council super featherweight title in that fight.

Gonzalez captured the WBC 126lb title with a 1st round knockout win over Abner Mares in August 2013. However, Gonzalez wasn’t able to take advantage of being the WBC champion, as he only defended it twice successfully in beating little Clive Atwell and then ring veteran Jorge Arce before losing the belt to Russell Jr. last year.

Gonzalez is ranked #4 WBC at super featherweight. He’ll get a title shot in the near future against WBC champion Francisco Vargas. It’s unlikely that Gonzalez will be able to beat Vargas, because he’s a very good fighter and still in his prime. It would be nice to see Gonzalez be tested against Orlando Salido before he gets another title shot, because he hasn’t faced anyone good since losing to Russell Jr. and Oquendo in 2015.