Roman Gonzalez ready for Srisaket Sor Rungvisai

By Boxing News - 03/16/2017 - Comments

Image: Roman Gonzalez ready for Srisaket Sor Rungvisai

By Jim Dower: WBC super flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KOs) is ready to put his unbeaten record on the line this Saturday night against his opponent from Thailand in Srisket Sor Rungvisa (41-4-1, 38 KOs) on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York. This is a great chance for Gonzalez to get visibility in the boxing world and win over new fans, as his fight with the 30-year-old Rungvisai will be taking place on the undercard of the Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs fight on HBO PPV.

(Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/K2 Promotions)

Gonzalez has a chance to really shine in this fight, but he can also blow it if he fails to win in a decisive manner like in his last fight. Winning and looking like the loser is the closest thing to losing that you can get, and Gonzalez looked like the loser in his last fight against Carlos Cuadras. That match left more questions than answers. Cuadras wants a rematch against Gonzalez, and he’ll be getting one if the two of them win their fights on the Golovkin-Jacobs card.

Gonzalez-Rungvisai is the co-feature bout on the card, and it could supply the most long lasting fireworks of the night. Golovkin-Jacobs has knockout written all over it. The other major fight on the card between former WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (35-1-1, 27 KOs) and David Carmona (20-3-5, 8 KOs) might wind up as a tactical battle between two boxers. Cuadras can slug at times, but he uses a lot of movement in his fights. He’s not like Roman Gonzalez, who mainly comes forward and looks to slug with his opponents.

Rungvisai is the best puncher in the super flyweight division. He had Cuadras moving continuously to avoid his hard shots in their fight in 2014. Cuadras is viewed as a hard puncher, but he clearly didn’t have the kind of power that Rungvisai had going for him when the two of them mixed it up 3 years ago. Cuadras refused to stand and trade with Rungvisai, because he didn’t match up well against him in the power department. The first time Cuadras attempted to stand his ground in round 1, he was hit hard by Rungvisai. From that point on, Cuadras got on his bike and stayed in movement for the next 11 rounds.

“I know it’s going to be a difficult fight but this is the best preparation I’ve had,’ said Roman Gonzalez about his fight against Rungvisai. “I’m ready to put on a great performance.”

This is going to be a real test of Gonzalez’s ability to handle the punching power of the strongest punchers at super flyweight. Gonzalez has moved up 3 weight classes after starting his boxing career out in the minimumweight division 12 years ago in 2005. Gonzalez hasn’t changed his fighting at all despite moving up in weight on 3 separate occasions. However, we saw in Gonzalez’s last fight against the 28-year-old Cuadras last September that he can’t get away with standing in front of his opponents looking to slug.

Gonzalez took frightful punishment from Cuadras, which resulted in his face being grotesquely swelled up from the force of the Mexican fighter’s punches by the end of the fight in round 12. Gonzalez still won the fight by a 12 round decision, but it was close. A lot of boxing fans felt that Cuadras had done more than enough to deserve the win. The only reason Gonzalez won the fight was because he was the busier guy down the stretch. Cuadras focused too much time looking to land his flurries, and not enough time working hard for the full3 minutes of each round.

“I’ve come here to win and I will get the victory for the people of Thailand,” said Rungvisai.

Don’t be surprised if Rungvisai is able to pull off the upset, because he’s got an opponent that will be standing directly in front of him on Saturday night, and he’s always been able to get the better of guys that stand and fight with him rather than using movement. Cuadras sees Rungvisai giving Gonzalez huge problems in this fight. He thinks he can beat Gonzalez. That would be bad news for Cuadras if that happens, because a rematch between him and Gonzalez would be much bigger if the two of them win on Saturday night.

They’ll still likely face each other, but the fight won’t have nearly as much meaning if one of them loses. Gonzalez has the much tougher task than Cuadras, because his opponent David Carmona is a finesse type of fighter. Gonzalez has the bigger slugger of the two in Rungvisai, and it could be a real grueling fight for him.

“I hope Carmona is ready, I came very prepared. I hope Rungvisai is ready and I look forward to a rematch with Roman and I hope you win,” said Cuadras. “I am strong, I am fast and I am very, very handsome.”

Cuadras has it kind of easy with the 25-year-old Carmona coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision loss to World Boxing Organization World super flyweight champion Naoya Inoue in his last fight in May of 2016. Carmona has nothing in his arsenal to worry Cuadras in this fight other than a high work rate. Since Cuadras isn’t the type of fighter to stand and trade with his opponents, he should have little problems getting the better of Carmona with his eye-catching flurries that he likes to throw. Those shots impress the judges; even most of Cuadras’ punches miss badly when he’s throwing his flurries

Carmona is not going to be able to steal rounds the same way that Cuadras can with his flurries. However, if Carmona can land his punches straight down the middle during Cuadras’ mini-flurries, he could shake him up. Cuadras throws his punches wide when he’s unleashing his flurries, and this makes him vulnerable to getting countered. Gonzalez was able to hit Cuadras with nice shots while he was letting his hands go. Gonzalez also did a good job of staying close to Cuadras and hitting him repeatedly after his flurries. Cuadras needs rest breaks after he throws his flurries, and Gonzalez never let him rest.