Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Eusebio Osejo on February 23rd in Mexico

By Boxing News - 01/30/2013 - Comments

gonzalez33By Chris Williams: Former two division world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (52-8, 45 KO’s) will be facing journeyman Eusebio Osejo (21-12-2, 7 KO’s) on February 23rd in a scheduled 12 round bout in a still to be determined venue in Mexico.

Gonzalez, 31, lost his World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title in his last bout against Daniel Ponce De Leon last year in September in an 8th round technical decision loss. The fight was stopped after Gonzalez suffered a bad cut over his right eye from a head-butt in the 8th.

De Leon was dominating the fight at the time and the bout went to the cards with De Leon winning by the scores of 79-72, 79-72 and 77-74.

De Leon is hoping to beat the 27-year-old Nicaraguan born Osejo and then getting a second shot at De Leon after that. However, Jhonny many get another title shot at the WBC featherweight belt, but it might not be against De Leon because he has a fight on March 2nd against the unbeaten knockout artist Jayson Velez (20-0, 15 KO’s), and it’s going to be really tough for De Leon to win that fight.

I don’t think he can to be honest. Velez is too strong, too powerful and too young for De Leon to cope with this guy. Gonzalez is a good fighter, to be sure, but he won’t stand a chance against Velez. That’s a massacre waiting to happen if Gonzalez gets in the ring with him. Gonzalez is in a big situation now matter who he faces – Velez or De Leon. Both of them will dominate him and he pretty much has no chance.

What Gonzalez should be doing is forgetting all about the WBC belt and focusing on going after the WBA title held by the vulnerable Chris John or the IBF strap held by Billy Dib. Gonzalez would have a really good chance of beating both of those guys, especially Dib. If Gonzalez fights John, the fight would likely take place in John’s home country of Indonesia, and that would make it really tough for Gonzalez to try and win a decision over there.

I saw Juan Manuel Marquez fight Chris John in Indonesia and dominate the fight completely; winning 11 of 12 rounds on my scorecard, yet John was still given the decision. If Gonzalez is smart, he’ll focus on trying to face Dib because that’s a fight he won’t have to KO him to win.