By Mark Eisner: Former four-division world champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (51-3, 41 KOs) took replacement opponent Julio Cesar Martinez (18-2, 14 KOs) to school in beating him by an embarrassingly one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in their headliner at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.

The scores were as follows: 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112. Boxing News 24 scored it 118-110. Martinez looked hurt in the 12th round but somehow made it through without going down. He appeared to be out on his feet several times.

Chocolatito had too many skills for the crude brawler Martinez, and it was never close from the start.

“We still don’t know when I’m going to retire. maybe a few more fights. That’s why I’m here because of the marvelous crowd,” said Chocolatito after the fight.

“I wanted to feel his power first and work with him little by little. My corner told me not to give him any rounds. I’m very surprised but that indicates he comes in really good condition.

“Everyone knows in my last fight with El Gallo Estrada, I won. The only one that defeated me was Sor Rungvisai.

“Whatever comes, they will decide, as long as they pay me well,” said Roman when asked what he wants to do next.

“That was an incredible performance from the legend. Chocola seems to be getting better and better,” said Eddie Hearn. “The Estrada trilogy was supposed to happen tonight.

“He looked too small, too inexperienced and not good enough,” said Hearn about Rey Martinez.

Undercard results:

Featherweight contender Mauricio Lara (24-2-1, 17 KOs), fresh off his two round technical draw against the billy goat-esque Josh Warrington, destroyed Emilio Sanchez (19-2, 12 KOs) by a third round knockout in the fight of the fight. Late in the third, Lara knocked Sanchez out with a thunderous shot to the head. In the first round, Lara knocked Sanchez down. It looked like it was going to be a cakewalk for Lara going into the third, but was shaken up on the ropes. For a moment there it appeared that Sanchez might score a knockout, but then suddenly late in the round, Lara came alive and flattened Sanchez with a huge shot to get the knockout. The time of the stoppage was at 2:59 of the third. Given the head-butting clinic Warrington put on last time Lara fought him, it would be pointless to bother making the third fight. It’s likely we’d see the same with Lara cut to ribbons.

In a disappointing fight, lightweight contender Angel Fierro (19-1-2, 15 KOs) battled to a 10 round majority draw against veteran Juan Carlos Burgos (34-6-3, 21 KOs). The judges’ scores were 96-94 for Fierro, 95-95, and 95-95.
Unbeaten junior middleweight fringe contender Souleymane Cissokho (15-0, 9 KOs) beat Roberto Valenzuela (23-3, 19 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. In the fourth, both fighters hit the deck in a thrilling round. Valenzuela dropped Cissokho with a huge haymaker. When Cissokho returned the favor by knocking Valenzuela down after he got careless when trying to finish him. The judges scored it 100-90, 99-91, and 99-91. Boxing News 24 scored the fight 99-91 for Cissokho.

Undefeated super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco (14-0, 11 KOs) beat a totally overmatched Genc Pllana (9-4-1, 5 KOs) by a second round knockout. The 20-year-old Pachenko knocked ‘The Sexy Albanian’ Pllana down in the 1st round and then stopped him in the 2nd round. The count was suspended at 1:29 of the second. It’s time for the 6’4′ Pachenko to step up the level of his opposition at this point because he’s winning too easily with the opposition his management are feeding him.

Undefeated lightweight prospect Marc Castro (6-0, 5 KOs) surprisingly had to get up off the deck to defeat the unheralded Julio Madera (3-2, 2 KOs) by an unimpressive six round unanimous decision. Madera took advantage of Castro’s lack of head movement to drop him like a bad habit in the second round. A badly hurt Castro was able to get up and make it out of the round in one piece. The scores were 59-55, 59-55, and 59-55. Castro’s promoters might want to put the brakes on his progression until he fixes the flaws he showed tonight.

2020 Olympian female super featherweight prospect Skye Nicholson (1-0) defeated Jessica Juarez (3-1, 1 KOs) by a six round unanimous decision in their debut tonight. The judges’ scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55.
Super bantamweight prospect Anthony Herrera (2-0, 2 KOs) picked up his second win with a fourth round knockout victory over Jose Toribio (7-5, 1 KOs). Herrera ended the contest with a hard body shot in the fourth. The time of the stoppage was at the :24 mark.

Preview – Chocolatito ready for Martinez

“I’m excited, I’m ready, and I’m glad that the weigh-in is over, and now I’m going to get rehydrated,” said Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez to Fighthype. “Everything I’ve learned in camp, I can display in the fight.

“The most important thing is the fight is still on. I’m ready for whatever comes my way,” Chocolatito said when asked about his reaction to Rey Martinez coming in overweight at the weigh-in.

“I had an excellent camp and am ready to fight,” Roman Gonzalez continued. “There’s no other way around it, the fights happening. Whether he made weight or not, the fight was going to happen. Whatever you get tomorrow, you’re going to get.

“I’m very happy. I had a tremendous camp, and that gives me the motivation to be this happy,” said Chocolatito on why he was smiling so much at the weigh-in. “Always keep working hard, moving forward for whatever that comes.”

Bam reacts to Rey Martinez missing weight

“Maybe he wasn’t that disciplined, or maybe he struggled at the weight, I don’t know,” said Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez to Fighthype when asked why Julio Cesar Martinez came in overweight at the weigh-in.

“I favor Chocolatito in this fight just because of his experience,” Bam Rodriguez continued. “Martinez can get a little wild, and Chocolatito, I believe, will capitalize on that.

“Yeah, of course, he’s younger than Chocolatito, and he’s up there already, but Chocolatito is a legend, and you never know what to expect from him. So it’s going to be a good fight,” said Rodriguez when asked if Rey Martinez will have the speed advantage over Roman.

“Chocolatito set the tone for the smaller weight classes in this era. Like I said, he set the tone and brought the attention back to the weight classes.

“Because of what he’s done,” said Bam Rodriguez when asked why Chocolatito is given so much respect in boxing. “He’s won multiple world titles. Not many fighters do that.

“For him to do that and to still be fighting to this day, You’ve got to respect that. Honestly, I started watching boxing in my era. I never really looked back, but he’s the guy right now,” Rodriguez said.

Gonzalez will break Rey Martinez down

“I believe he’s going to break him down in the later rounds,” said Bam Rodriguez. “Maybe Martinez will get a little too wild and get caught with something in the early rounds, but I believe Chocolatito will break him down after a while to the body.

“Chocolatito is a legend. He’s been in there with the best of the best. There’s nothing he hasn’t seen. It’s just another fight for him.

“Of course, fighters in this weight class, we don’t duck and dodge. We’re here to fight anybody whenever. I love to give exciting fights and give the fans what they want to see.

“A fight like this and my fight with [Carlos] Cuadras, that’s what people want to see. Every fight in the lower-weight division will deliver that.

“That’s a credit to my coach Robert [Garcia]. He told me to stick to my gameplan, stick to my jab, keep boxing him, and that’s what I did,” said Bam Rodriguez on his 12 round unanimous decision win over 33-year-old Cuadras last February.

“If it weren’t for Robert, I probably would have brawled with Cuadras a little bit more, and maybe that would have lost me the fight. Credit to Robert because he stuck me to the game plan.

“He’s the guy I’ve been watching since I started boxing,” said Bam about Chocolatito.

“There’s already talk about it. Eddie Hearn has talked about it, and many people have talked about it,” Bam Rodriguez said when asked how close he is to fighting the winner of the Chocolatito vs. Rey Martinez fight.

“I would love to fight the winner of this fight because that’s a fight that people want to see.

“My brother [Joshua Franco] is going to fight El Gallo (Juan Francisco Estrada], but there’s talk of me maybe fighting [Srisaket Sor] Rungvisai on the undercard [in San Antonio, Texas]. So, we’ll see what happens.

“I’m down to fight whoever and give exciting fights. A fight with Chocolatito, I believe that’s passing the torch. I think he would pass the torch to me and respect to him. If the fight happens, I would love that.

“There’s already talk of me and my brother fighting on the same card in San Antonio, and I believe something like that would be really dope.

“We came up in the amateurs together, and to see us going to the top together is amazing,” said Jesse Rodriguez about Shakur Stevenson.

Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez fights tonight against the young up and comer Julio Cesar Martinez in the headliner LIVE on DAZN at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. Fight action for the card starts at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Martinez (18-1, 14 KOs) missed weight on Friday at the weigh-in for his 12 round fight against legend Chocolatito (50-3, 41 KOs), but thankfully the contest is still taking place.