By Dan Ambrose: Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (46-2, 38 KOs) will be fighting on May 5th against former WBC light flyweight champion Pedro Guevara (30-3-1, 17 KOs) on the undercard of IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin’s next fight against a still to be determined opponent on regular HBO, possibly at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
This is a step down in competition for the former four division world champion Gonzalez from his last three tough fights against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras. Guevara is coming up in weight from the light flyweight division (108 pounds) to face Gonzalez at super flyweight. Gonzalez seems to be unable or unwilling to move back down in weigh to flyweight and light flyweight, which were both much better weight classes for him than the 115 lb. weight class at super flyweight.
Gonzalez is simply too small to compete at the highest levels for the super flyweight division, but he hasn’t shown a desire to give up on the idea of fighting in this weight class. For that reason, you can expect Gonzalez’s career to continue to decline until he has no other choice but to retire. Gonzalez’s last three fights against Cuadras and Ringvisai [twice] have proven that he’s not cut out for the 115 lb. division, but he just won’t give up on the idea of fighting in this weight class. That’s too bad, because Gonzalez likely will never beat Ringvisai, and he can’t take too many more beatings like he took against him and Cuadras.
Gonzalez, 30, and the 28-year-old Guevara of Mexico have reportedly agreed to terms to fight in a scheduled 10 round bout on GGG’s undercard on May 5th. The official announcement of the Gonzalez vs. Guevara fight will be made at the same time Golovkin’s fight is announced for that date. It’s expected that Golovkin’s fight will be announced this week. Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan has been mentioned as a strong possibility.
The 28-year-old Guevara held the WBC light flyweight title from December 2014 to November 2015. Guevara won the vacant WBC 108 lb. title with 7th round knockout victory over Akira Yaegashi in December 2014. Guevara would later lose his WBC title to Yu KKimura y a 12 round split decision on November 28, 2015. Guevara then won his next four fights against weak opposition before losing to Ken Shiro by a 12 round majority decision last October in Tokyo, Japan. Guevara hasn’t fought since then. Guevara also has a 12 round split decision loss to John Riel Casimero. All of Guevara’s defeats in the past were close 12 round decisions.
This is a tough but winnable fight for Gonzalez. At least he’s not fighting a guy from the super flyweight division. That’s the only positive from this match. Guevara isn’t a powerful fighter or a natural super flyweight like Rungvisai and Cuadras. Gonzalez should be able to overwhelm Guevara with his nonstop punching style. This is a guy that doesn’t have the massive power and size that Rungvisai and Cuadras has. However, if Gonzalez loses this fight or if he badly struggles to win, then it’s probably a good idea for him to retire from boxing, because the results would show that he no longer has the talent to be a championship level fighter.
Ideally, Gonzalez should get a clue and move back down to at least the flyweight division if not the 108 lb. weight class. Those are divisions that Gonzalez is better suited to. If this were another fighter from any other weight class, they would likely move down in weight in a heartbeat if they discovered after three fights that they didn’t have the size to mix it up with the best in another weight class. For example, if Gennady Golovkin moved up to super middleweight and started losing fights repeatedly against bigger fighters, he wouldn’t likely stubbornly stay at 168. Golovkin would move back down in weight to where he has a better chance of success. For some reason, Gonzalez won’t do that despite the fact that he’s been shown in his three fights at super flyweight that he doesn’t have the size or the punching power to dominate in that weight class.
Gonzalez is just a punching bag at super flyweight. You want to give Gonzalez the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s not willing to move back down to flyweight or light flyweight because he physically can no longer make weight for those divisions, but I don’t believe that’s the case. Gonzalez looked good his last fight at flyweight against McWilliams Arroyo in April 2016 in beating him by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. In Gonzalez’s fight before that, he destroyed Brian Viloria in four rounds at flyweight in October 2015. In Gonzalez’s last fight at light flyweight against Ramon Garcia Hirales, he stopped him in 4 rounds in March 2012. Gonzalez is an awesome fighter when he’s fighting in his normal weight classes at flyweight and light flyweight, but he’s not big or strong enough to be a factor at super flyweight. In that weigh class, Gonzalez is a volume puncher, who is forced to go the full 12 rounds for him to win fights. Gonzalez’s record at 115 right now is 1-2.
The good news about having Chocolatito vs. Guevara on Golovkin’s May 5th card is that fight will likely steal the show and upstage the main even. If Golovkin faces Gary O’Sullivan in the headliner fight on the card, it’s surely going to be a mismatch with Triple G making easy work of the Irish fighter. Gonzalez-Guevara will give the boxing fans something interesting to see if the main event turns out to be a disappointment.