Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
With the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. now official, pound-for-pound lists around the interweb have gotten a complete makeover.
While notable fighters such as Manny Pacquiao and Wladimir Klitschko have hovered around or even been crowned No. 1 on some lists in the past (while Mayweather sat out), this time around a new man has stepped up to take the reins.
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs) has made the jump to No. 1 on most reputable lists including those of ESPN, Ring TV and Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (he’s also No.1 on RBRBoxing‘s list).
Gonzalez has been wowing die-hard boxing fans for quite some time, but with only one fight on US television–a second-round shellacking of Edgar Sosa on HBO–the Flyweight kingpins move to No. 1 was not foreseen by many.
Make no mistake, Gonzalez is the truth, but smaller guys simply don’t get that much love, especially with such little recognition from fans in the States. But after his spot on the Gennady Golovkin vs. Willie Monroe undercard ended in an impressive TKO victory, people have caught on quick and are now rightfully hailing the little man from Managua, Nicaragua as one of boxing’s best.
Gonzalez returns to the ring on October 17 at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, to take on former world champion, Brian Viloria. At 34 years of age, Viloria is past his prime, but he’s still got some fight left in him and has gone 10-1 in his last 11 bouts with his only loss in that time frame coming against another bad-ass little guy, Juan Franciso Estrada.
Gonzalez has knows he has another great opportunity to wow US television viewers because he’ll be fighting on one of the most anticipated fight cards of the year, which features Golovkin vs. David Lemieux in a battle for Middleweight supremacy.
“When I go back I would never have imagined that I could be No.1 pound-for-pound fighter or have won three world championships. I have taken care of myself. That is one of the great lessons I have learned. I am looking forward to October 17 to demonstrate my talent and be victorious once again,” said Gonzalez.
With less than two weeks until fight night, Gonzalez is still quietly training in Nicaragua, documenting a lot of his daily workouts on his Instagram page. But, with a modest 15 thousand followers (for comparison, Manny Pacquiao has 2.6 million followers, Wladimir Klitschko has 41.3 thousand and even Andre Ward has 77.8 thousand), Gonzalez is still relatively flying under the radar.
Gonzalez is preparing for a tough outing against Viloria and is using his ranking on the mythical list to serve as a source of motivation to put on a strong performance.
[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered”]“I am very happy about being voted the No. 1 pound-for-pound. I would like to thank my team because I believe it is a team effort and all of the work has paid off. It does not bring any pressure – it just brings motivation. I know that Brian Viloria is an excellent champion and he is a great fighter. He is a tough opponent and it will be a hard fight. I have my arsenal and he has his arsenal and whoever is in the best physical condition on October 17 is going to win the fight.”[/otw_shortcode_quote]
Gonzalez will be defending his WBC title against Viloria and, if he’s successful, fans will be salivating over the possibility of a rematch against the No. 2 ranked Flyweight Estrada, who holds the WBA Super World flyweight and WBO Flyweight titles.
As Gonzalez continues to forge forward and prepare for October 17, the memory of his mentor and fellow Nicaraguan great, Alexis Arguello remains close to him.
“I believe that Alexis Arguello would be the happiest out of all of my team, because he had a lot of trust in me and treated me like his son. He would not only be so happy to see me as the pound-for-pound No. 1 but to also have won three world championships. Out of the whole team he would be the happiest with my accomplishments.”
