By Michael Montero – Yesterday at a media luncheon in Los Angeles formally announcing the fight between Mexico City natives Carlos “Principe” (The Prince) Cuadras and David Carmona, WBC officials mandated that the victor would become the mandatory for the winner of the title fight between Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and SrisaketSorRungvisai. Both super flyweight contests take place on the Golovkin-Jacobs undercard March 18th inside Madison Square Garden in New York.
Cuadras (35-1-1, 27KO) is still largely unknown among casual fight fans, but he has quite an outgoing personality that endears him to diehards. The former WBC 115lb titlist – who speaks fluent Spanish, conversational Japanese, and is learning English – had members of the boxing media laughing with his funny, witty, charming responses to their questions. He talked a little trash about Chocolatito, feeling he is scared to face him in a rematch. Trainer Rudy Hernandez made it very clear that they would going for the knockout if they were to fight again.
However, before any of that can take place Cuadras must get through Carmona (20-3-5, 8KO), an experienced fighter who battled Japanese star Naoya “Monster” Inoue in Tokyo last May. The tough Mexican is the only man that has taken Inoue the entire twelve-round distance. This will be no pushover.
The same goes Roman Gonzalez (46-0, 38KO), who faces a stern challenge against mandatory SrisaketSorRungvisai March 18th. The Thai southpaw held the WBC 115lb title for a year before losing it to Cuadras in 2014. Rungvisai (41-4-1, 38KO) has remained very active with six fights in 2015 and four in 2016. This will be no pushover.
But if both Cuadras and Gonzalez are successful in their bouts next month, will Chocolatito go for the rematch, or dump his belt? The fierce twelve rounds they shared last September at The Forum in Los Angeles was one of the best fights of 2016. Both men walked out of the ring with bumps and bruises that night, but Gonzalez was undoubtedly worse for wear. Would Chocolatito rather face Principe in another grueling contest, or go after a big money fight with Inoue in Japan?
“I’ll be ready (March 18th)”, Cuadras said, “I just hope that if we are both successful in our fights, thathe (Gonzalez) takes the rematch. He is scared. I have a punch.” When asked to elaborate on why he feels Gonzalez is scared, Cuadras simply replied, “he realizes that in the rematch that he can’t win, I’m going to knock him out. The next time we meet it will be round thirteen.”
Michael Montero can be reached on Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @MonteroOnBoxing