By: Sean Crose
The sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden was stunned. Roman Gonzalez, better known as “Chocolatio,” is the 46-0 WBC super flyweight world champion. He is also considered by many to be one of the best, if not the best, boxers on earth. Suffice it to say, no one expected Chocolatito to feature that night in his scheduled 12th round match against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. However, there was Chocolatito on the canvas from the very first round, the victim of a terrifying shot to Sor Rungvisai’s body. However, the Nicaraguan master was not surprised to be able to beat numbers and fight with excellence.
However, Sor Rungvisai also fought brilliantly – brilliant enough to leave the ring that night with a decisive majority win on his résumé, along with Chocolatito’s WBC belt. Sure, the disappointment came as a surprise, but no one expected what would happen in the rematch. Because Gonzalez was completely knocked out by Sor Rungvisai when they met again six months later in Carson, California. The former boxer appeared to have been eliminated in the fourth round, a shell that boxer fans are used to seeing.
However, somehow, the man returned. That’s not surprising in itself, as many fighters, if not most, continue to fight after losing. What is surprising, however, is that Chocolatito has indeed returned to form. After winning four in a row over the next three years, three years away, the man became world champion once again. Furthermore, he is set to have a rematch with the outstanding WBC super fly champ Juan Francisco Estrada in March 2021 in a unifying match between divisions. The match, needless to say, turned out to be extraordinary. Estrada won, but the decision could go either way. A third bout was clearly arranged, and so the two fighters met again this past weekend in Glendale, Arizona.
Again, it was a great fight. Again, it could have gone either way. While Estrada is more active, Gonzalez has better shots. However, the judges once again nodded to Estrada. While it’s hard to argue that this decision was unfair, it’s not hard to see that Chocolatito doesn’t seem to be quite the one in the fight. He moves slower and is usually slower when pulling the trigger. It remains to be seen whether it was simply a night of rest or a symptom of a real decline (should Chocolatito decide to keep fighting). What is no longer controversial, however, is the fact that Chocolatito’s excellent second act has come to an end.
