Purses: Chocolatito $400k, Cuadras $250k

By Boxing News - 09/10/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs) will be getting the lion’s share of the loot tonight in his title challenge against World Boxing Council World super flyweight champion Carlos “Principe” Cuadras (35-0-1, 27 KOs) on HBO from The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Gonzalez will be getting a guaranteed $400,000 compared to Cuadras’ $250,000. The money reflects Gonzalez’s still greater star power right now. Whether that is sustainable or not for the unbeaten 29-year-old Nicaraguan Gonzalez will be partially determined in how he performs tonight against the much larger looking 28-year-old Cuadras.

The two fighters weighed in on Friday, and it looked two guys that were separated by a couple of weight classes, considering that Cuadras looked much bigger standing next to Gonzalez. This was before either of the fighters had rehydrated.

Cuadras tends to put on a lot of weight after he rehydrates for his fights. He could come into the fight tonight looking like a lightweight in the ring. For most boxing fans, that might not seem like big news that a fighter would look that big, but Cuadras is going up against a guy that just moved up from the flyweight division [112 pounds].

Unless Gonzalez figures out a way to deal with the large size advantage that Cuadras has going for him in this fight, it’s going to be a really tough for him to win the fight. Gonzalez will definitely make a fight of it tonight, but for him to win; he’s going to need to find a way to deal with Cuadras’ size advantage. Perhaps staying close and working on the inside might get the job done for Gonzalez. That would seem to be the wisest tactic for him to use, because if he gives Cuadras too much space, he’ll pick him off from the outside and make it an easy fight for 12 rounds in winning a wide points decision.

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Despite sporting a tremendous size advantage tonight, Cuadras will still have it really tough because Gonzalez is easily the best opponent he’s faced during his career. He’s never fought anyone good as a pro. The last time that Cuadras fought someone with a ton of boxing skills and power it was back in his amateur days when he was beaten by Oscar Valdez. Cuadras was no match for Valdez, and perhaps he’ll be no match for Gonzalez too. However, what makes this fight difference is that Gonzalez doesn’t have Valdez’s size that he used to beat Cuadras. Gonzalez will need to beat Cuadras with skills and combination punching.

“Purses according to @_CSAC: @chocolatitobox $400k, Cuadras $250k,” said Dan Rafael.