By Sean Jones: Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez is ready to avenge his loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai tonight in their rematch at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Gonzalez (46-1, 38 KOs) lost to Rungvisai 6 months ago by a 12-round majority decision on March 18 on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs. Danny Jacobs fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Gonzalez thinks the decision was wrong by the judges, who scored it in favor of the 30-year-old Rungvisai (43-4-1, 39 KOs) by the scores 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113. Gonzalez was knocked down in round 1 moments after being head-butted accidentally by Rungvisai. The referee didn’t see the head-butt, so the knockdown counted. It was a devastating defeat for Gonzalez, as he lost his No.1 pound-for-pound status in boxing.
It might not be important for the casual fans, but for hardcore boxing fans, they keep track of the pound-for-pound ratings. The fighter that occupies the No.1 spot in the ratings is seen by a lot of the hardcore fans as the top fighter in all of boxing. Gonzalez wants to recapture his pound-for-pound spot, and he also wants to win back his WBC 115 lb. title that he lost in the process to Rungvisai.
– Gonzalez vs. Rungvisai start time is at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday, September 9
– Where to see Gonzalez vs. Rungvisai is on HBO World Championship Boxing
– Undercard fights for the Rungvisai vs. Gonzalez card are as follows: Naoya Inoue vs. Antonio Nieves and Carlos Cuadras vs. Juan Francisco Estrada
Gonzalez’s face was cut twice by head-butts from Rungvisai, who comes from Thailand, and he’s a big puncher with a southpaw stance. Against Rungvisai, Gonzalez was not the same fighter he’d shown in the first 11 years of his career. Gonzalez’s shots had negligible effect on Rungvisai. He could walk through Gonzalez’s lighter shots to punish him with big punches to the head and body.
The difference between the powers of the 2 fighters was surprising. For the boxing fans familiar with how devastating Gonzalez has been in fighting in the 105, 108 and 112 lb. divisions, it a new experience to see how he wasn’t nearly the same puncher at 115 against Rungvisai. But the fans had already seen that Gonzalez’s power was not extraordinary for the super flyweight division in his previous fight against former WBC 115 lb. champion Carlos Cuadras last year in September.
Gonzalez’s shots bounced off Cuadras’ head all night long without marking up his face or hurting him at any time in the fight. Cuadras’ shots had Gonzalez’s face badly bruised and swollen by the end of the fight. Gonzalez’s eyes were almost closed, and he looked in bad shape. Gonzalez won the fight, but it was close and he took a terrible beating. That should have been a sign right there that Gonzalez wasn’t cut out to be fighting in the 115lb division, but he chose to stay at the weight and defend against an even more powerful puncher in Rungvisai last March.
It was not unexpected that Rungvisai would wear Gonzalez down and earn a 12-round decision. Gonzalez tried to go to war with Rungvisai instead of boxing him, and he paid a heavy price in taking another beating. Gonzalez’s face was cut 2 times from head-butts, but he was able bruised up from the heavy shots from Rungvisai. The thing that made no sense was Gonzalez didn’t even try to adapt from his previous fight against Cuadras by using movement to deal with Rungvisai.
Gonzalez fought him the same way he did against Cuadras, and the other opponents that he’d faced during his 12-year pro career. Rungvisai had obviously trained well to deal with Gonzalez’s fighting style. It was easy for Rungvisai, because Gonzalez didn’t show any new wrinkles in his fighting style. He used the same fighting style that he’d always used during his career instead of coming up with something new to show that he could adapt. That’s one reason you can argue that Gonzalez never deserved to be No.1 in the pound for pound ratings. He’d never shown the ability to adapt his style to that of his different opponents.
When you’re rating fighters in the pound or pound category, you want to see that they can come up with different game plans to use when things aren’t going their way. Gonzalez never had to do that during his career until he fought Rungvisai, and he failed to do it. Gonzalez stuck with the same high volume, high pressure attack that he’d always used, and Rungvisai gave him a bit of beating. What was surprising is it was Rungvisai who adapted later in the fight by using movement in the last 3 rounds to hold onto his lead when Gonzalez’s body attack was starting to wear him down.
“It was a very difficult decision to accept because I felt I won the fight,” Gonzalez said via espn.com. “I want to win this fight by an ample margin and be able to once again be able to get my title back. It was a difficult loss, but I am focused on the rematch now.”
Gonzalez did land more shots than Rungivsai in the fight, but his punches weren’t as powerful as the fighter from Thailand. While a lot of the boxing fans felt that Gonzalez should have won the fight, you can understand what the 2 judges had seen with them scoring it in Rungvisai’s favor. He had knocked Gonzalez down in round 1, and he had landed the harder, cleaner punches throughout the fight. In looking at the faces of the 2 fighters, Rungvisai’s face was unmarked, while Gonzaez’s showed that of a guy that had taken enormous punishment. Judges are influenced by things like that.
Rungvisai looked like the winner after the fight. Gonzalez’s face was that of a loser. The World Boxing Council gave Gonzalez a rematch after he petitioned them to get a second fight against Rungvisia. In truth, Gonzalez hardly needed to have the WBC step in to force the rematch, because Rungvisai wanted to fight Gonzalez a second time. Gonzalez is the biggest name in the 115-lb. division right now.
It would be like Saul Canelo Alvarez petitioning the WBC to force Golovkin to give him a rematch if he’d lost to him. It’s totally needless. Golovkin would want a second fight against Canelo because he’s the best money option for him. Rungvisai wants the rematch with Gonzalez, as he feels he’s the better fighter and he can beat him a second time, especially if he doesn’t adapt his fighting style to fix his flaws.
If Gonzalez gets beaten a second time by Rungvisai, then it could be time to start thinking about retirement for the Nicaraguan fighter. If Gonzalez is going to stubbornly stick it out at 115, then he could suffer additional losses. The smart thing obviously for Gonzalez to do would be to lose 3 pounds and go back down to 112lbs. He should be able to make weight for the flyweight division still. If Gonzalez can’t make weight for that division any longer, there won’t be any choice but for him to stay at 115 and try and go after WBO champion Naoya Inoue or WBA champion Khalid Yafai. Those would be even tougher fights for Gonzalez, considering those guys have boxing skills and decent size for the division.
“I’m very glad to have the rematch. As soon as the last fight was over, I wanted the chance to regain my title,” said Gonzalez. “We had a great camp in Japan. It was very peaceful, and we could work on a very good strategy to win on Saturday night. After fighting him once, I know what he does well and I know how to combat that.”
It sounds good that Gonzalez is talking about using a “strategy” this time for Rungvisai, as he didn’t use one last time other than the old attacking style that he’d previously employed for his fights. For guys like Rungvisai, Gonzalez needs to use his brain more to outwit the bigger, stronger fighter. Complaining about the loss to Rungvisai is a waste of time. Gonzalez must figure out how to beat him in a convincing enough manner this time so that the judges can’t take it away from him this time. The last fight was too close. Gonzalez didn’t do enough to make sure the judges couldn’t give the win to Rungvisai. Using a different approach against Rungvisai tonight is the only way Gonzalez has a chance of winning without taking another beating and winding up with another defeat. The judges were fair last time. They had no choice but to give the win to Rungvisai, as he did the better job and looked like the better overall fighter.