Roman Gonzalez did his part.
“Chocolatito,” looking a lot like a prime version of himself, overwhelmed Israel Gonzalez with relentless pressure to win a unanimous decision to retain his 115-pound title Friday night at the Azteca TV studios in Mexico City.
The victory sets up a highly anticipated potential rematch with Juan Francisco Estrada, who fought Carlos Cuadras immediately afterward in the same ring.
Israel Gonzalez, the taller, quicker, younger (23) fighter, got off to a reasonably strong start, using lateral movement and long punches as his 33-year-old opponent pursued him. And he had moments off and on throughout the fight.
However, the theme of this one centered on the winner’s intelligent pressure. He was able to cut off the ring by the third round and fire hard, accurate punches nonstop until the final bell rang. Israel Gonzalez (25-4, 11 KOs) rarely had room to fire back with any consistency, which made his mission impossible.
To his credit, the loser never quit and proved to be durable but that didn’t do him much good in the end. “Chocolatito” won by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 117-111. Boxing Junkie scored it 118-110 for the winner.
If Roman Gonzalez (50-2, 41 KOs) has declined, he didn’t show it on Friday.
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