FRISCO, Texas — Rumors of Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
The former pound-for-pound king of boxing had many questions regarding his future in the sport after a pair of defeats to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Well, those questions were answered Saturday night when Gonzalez (49-2, 41 KOs) put together a blistering performance that ended with a vicious ninth-round knockout over Kal Yafai to claim the WBA 115-pound title at The Ford Center at The Star.
With a steady diet of intestine-twisting body shots and jaw-jarring uppercuts, the 32-year-old proved that there was still a lot left in the tank.
After a relatively competitive first round, the three-division champion began to put together his trademark punishing pressure. Yafai — a former Olympian — tried his best to fight off the advances of the Nicaraguan, but the runaway train had already left the station with no signs of slowing down.
As the rounds went by, the punishment piled on. An avalanche of body shots rearranged the furniture in Yafai’s insides as he looked completely clueless on how to slow "Chocolatito" down. It was evident that Yafai didn’t have the power to force Gonzalez to reconsider his strategy and wasn’t capable of defending the offensive juggernaut.
Yafai (26-1, 15 KOs) continued to fight on the inside and paid for it dearly with uppercuts that routinely snapped his head back. Try as he might, Gonzalez wouldn’t be denied on this night.
An accumulation of punishment capped off by a right hand sent Yafai to the canvas in the eighth round. Yafai managed to get to his feet and survive the frame, but the end was certainly near.
"Chocolatito" raced out of the corner to start the ninth and immediately went to work chopping Yafai down. A barrage of power shots to the body brought Yafai’s hands down, and a left jab was followed by a crushing right hand that turned the lights out for Yafai at the 29-second mark in the round.
The performance puts "Chocolatito" right back in the mix as possible showdowns with Juan Francisco Estrada and a rematch with Rungvisai certainly loom. But that’s the future.
Right now, it’s all about the return of one of boxing’s best who has proved that he’s far from done with this sport.