Roman Gonzalez was asked who would win a particular matchup: the 24-year-old version of himself vs. the current 34-year-old model.
“Chocolatito” smiled and didn’t hesitate to answer. “I think both ages would win,” he told Boxing Junkie through a translator. That’s his way of saying he can still beat elite opposition, such as Julio Cesar Martinez on Saturday in San Diego. And no one would argue with him, even at an age when most little men are retired.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel 34. He does. He just has to listen to his body more than he once did, work smarter, allow himself time to recover.
“It’s not the same,” he said. “It’s a difficult stage. I’ve already gone through a lot of cartridges. And I’m thankful for what I’ve done. I’m going to keep working until I can no longer work. … When you’re young, you have more everything. You’re strong, you have reflexes.
“In this camp, we work on being more intelligent, things like that. And we’ll keep going, all with the strength of God.”
You know it’s remarkable that Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) is still going strong if you’ve followed his career.
The 5-foot-3 Nicaraguan, a protégé of his late countryman Alexis Arguello, won titles in four divisions and built a Hall of Fame career with a high-powered motor and the ability to hurt anyone he hits between 2005 and 2017
Then, in 2017, he lost back-to-back fights to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, the second by a brutal fourth-round knockout.
He attributed his troubles to the sudden death of his longtime trainer and friend Arnulfo Obando in November 2016, four months before the first fight with Sor Rungvisai. Still, everyone wondered whether his championship years were behind him as he moved into his 30s.
They weren’t.
Gonzalez, who now works with trainer Marcos Caballero, won two fights by stoppage to earn a shot at unbeaten WBA titleholder Khalid Yafai and scored a vintage ninth-round knockout to climb back to the top of the 115-pound division.
And while he lost a disputed decision to rival Juan Francisco Estrada in his most-recent fight, a year ago, he proved in that fight that he remains near his best.
How did it do it? “A lot of desire,” he said.
Gonzalez was scheduled to face Estrada on Saturday in what would’ve been the rubber match in their trilogy but Estrada pulled out with COVID-19, after which Martinez, a flyweight titleholder, agreed to step in.
He would’ve liked the opportunity to set things right after his disappointment against Estrada in March of last year but he’s not obsessed with the idea. He feels he has nothing to prove.
“If they give me that opportunity, yes. If not, it’s fine,” he said and then added with a smirk. “I’ll take the fight that comes – as long as they pay me.”
Gonzalez will be paid handsomely to take on Martinez, a formidable fighter who was outpointed in his pro debut and hasn’t lost since.
And while Martinez is moving up in weight for the bout, that shouldn’t be a problem for him even against a physical fighter like Gonzalez. The Mexican has weighed more than 112 pounds for 12 of his 19 fights.
Martinez probably isn’t quite as good as the current version of Estrada but Gonzalez is preparing for him as if he is. He was asked whether he saw Martinez as a legitimate threat.
“All of them are,” he said. “The only thing I have in my favor is my conditioning. That’s what’s going to help me do my job the night of the fight. That’s been the thing that has helped me throughout my career.”
Indeed, Martinez had better be at his best because Chocolatito is coming.
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