By Jeff Aronow: Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez is starting training camp fr his next fight in September. The WBA Super World super flyweight champion Chocolatito (49-2, 41 KOs) arrived in the United States from his home in Nicaragua and is training in Coachella, California, according to ESPN.
Chocolatito had hopes of facing WBC 115-pound champion Juan Francisco Estrada (40-3, 27 KOs), but he’s going to need to wait on that fight due to Estrada taking a tune-up. Estrada, 30, hasn’t fought in eleven months since his ninth-round knockout win over Dewayne Beamon last August.
Roman Gonzales starting camp
With that kind of inactivity, Estrada needs to get a fight under his belt before he faces Chocolatito in their long-awaited rematch
“We’re starting camp, we’re happy, and we’re aiming for a fight in September,” Chocolatito’s manager Carlos Blandon said to ESPN.com.
“While a rematch with Juan Franciso Estrada is coveted, it looks like Estrada will take a tune-up fight in the interim.
“We want to beat the best ‘Gallo’ Estrada, so we want him to tune-up as much as possible.”
There’s no word on who Gonzalez’s next opponent will be. Given that there are only two months to go before September, he’ll likely take on a fringe level fighter. Gonzalez holds the WBA ‘Super’ 115-pound title, so he’s going to need to face at least a bottom-ranked contender in the World Boxing Association’s rankings.
If Gonzalez defends his WBA strap against a non-contender, he would need the WBA to sanction the fight.
These are some of the fringe contenders in the WBA’s rankings:
10. Pablo Carrillo
11. Elton Dharry
12. Vincent Legrand
13. Aliu Bamidele Lasisi
14. Jade Bornea
15. Orlando Penalba
Gonzalez, 33, shouldn’t have any problems beating those guys in a warm-up level fight to get him sharpened up for his rematch with Estrada.
Roman coming off a win over Yafai
Chocolatito is coming off of a ninth-round knockout win over Kal Yafai earlier this year on February 29 on DAZN in Frisco, Texas.
Gonzalez came into the Yafai contest as the underdog in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans, as he hadn’t done much with his career since his two losses to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2017. Roman surprised people by dominating Yafai in knocking him down in rounds eight and nine.
Gonzalez’s performance against Yafai showed that he’s still got a lot left in the tank, and has a chance of beating Estrada in their rematch. In 2012, Chocolatito defeated Estrada by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112.
Estrada has done well in the last years since his loss to Chocolatito, winning 14 of 15 fights. His only defeat came at the hands of Rungvisai in 2018 in a 12 round decision. Estrada has bounced back from that loss in winning his last four fights.