Khalid Yafai vs Roman Gonzalez
Last Chance For Chocolatito
The Big Fight
Preview
By Peter Silkov
By Peter Silkov
Writer for The Boxing Glove
WBA world
super-flyweight championship. Yafai is making the 6th defense of his
world title, but it is fair to say that he hasn't been setting the
world on fire since he won the championship. title fights.
'Chocolatito' had put the 'little men' on the boxing map by becoming
one of the very few flyweights to be recognized as the best boxer in
the world pound for pound. One would have to go back to the days of
the great Ricardo Lopez to find a flyweight/light-flyweight who had
gained such wide recognition throughout the boxing world. Usually,
boxing's lightest champions are only appreciated by the connoisseurs
and hardcore boxing fans, but Gonzalez, with his exciting brand of
skilled destructiveness, changed all that. Then it all went wrong for
'Chocolatito'. First, he lost his WBC Super-flyweight world
championship to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on March 18, 2017, on a very
controversial points decision after a brutal war. Six months later
the two men fought again, with 'Chocolatito' expected to avenge his
dubious defeat, and regain his world title, however, Gonzalez crashed
to a shocking and disastrous 4th round knockout defeat to the heard
punching Thai, and in the eyes of many looked to be a spent force.
Since that defeat almost two and a half years ago, 'Chocolatito' has
fought just twice, winning both, but against lower-tier opposition.
His most recent outing in December, a 2nd round stoppage of Diomel
Diocos, was Gonzalez's first match in 15 months after having knee
surgery. Tomorrow night (February 29) he faces the unbeaten Khalid
Yafai, at the Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Texas, for Yafai's
WBA
world super-flyweight championship. Yafai is making the 6th defense
of his world title, but it's fair to say that he hasn't been setting
the world on fire since he won the championship.
A
clever boxer with a somewhat awkward style, Yafai has so far been
retaining his title over somewhat limited opposition, without really
impressing. Perhaps he's been needing a challenge from someone like
Roman Gonzalez to really be able to bring the best out of himself?.
Yafai often looks like a boxer who does just enough to win, and the
better his opposition the better he performs, yet we still don't know
just how good he is when pushed to his limit. If Gonzalez is anything
like the fighter he used to be then we should find out tomorrow night
whether Yafai is a genuine world-class 'world champion' or whether he
falls a level below the elite. The biggest question is at the age of
32, how much does 'Chocolatito' have left in him. While the layoff at
this point of his career may well have done him good, how much has a
decade of fighting the best in 4 divisions taken out of Gonzalez. One
of Gonzalez's problems is that he is a small super-flyweight. The
other top men at the weight, including Yafai, are visibly bigger than
him in height and build, and this natural size difference played a
big part in the problems which Gonzalez had in his fights with
Rungvisai and his war with Carlos Cuadras before that. While Gonzalez
may not be able to make the flyweight limit anymore, he is still not
a natural super-flyweight. Certainly, Gonzalez is suffering from the
effects of competing at the very top for over a decade, despite his
skills, the wear and tear of 17 world title fights is inevitable.
In
recent training footage, Gonzalez looked noticeably slower than in
the past. He will be hoping that he can summon up the strength and
power to wear down and perhaps overpower Yafai in the later rounds.
If Gonzalez is even just 70% of what he used to be then he will give
Yafai a very tough night. Yafai is not a great puncher but is fast
with an elusive awkwardness which could pose a lot of problems for
'Chocolatito' at this stage of his career. If Yafai sticks to his
boxing, then he may well be able to outbox the faded Gonzalez, to win
a competitive but clear decision. If Yafai chooses to try and slug it
out with Roman, however, in an effort to impress, then he would be
making a mistake. Roman's best chance of victory is to make the fight
a toe to toe war and hope that he has the fitness and strength to
wear down Yafai.
While
not being a big puncher Yafai has a sharp punch and can throw a lot
of punches. It is possible that if Roman has slipped enough, and can
no longer fighter at his former pace or with his previous stamina,
then Yafai could force a stoppage in the mid to late rounds.
It
would be good to see Roman come back from the boxing twilight zone to
regain a world title so that both he and his fans can enjoy some more
great nights as they did in the past. However, the truth is that when
a fighter falls apart as spectacularly as Gonzalez did in 2017, they
very seldom manage to come back all the way to the top again.
Unfortunately Yafai, despite not being close to the level of Roman
when he was at his best, id the kind of fighter who will be awkward
for a Gonzalez who has slowed down and has been inactive for the past
two and a half years. Tomorrow we may see the dying light of the most
outstanding fighter of the last decade. Roman, with his huge fighting
pride is bound to do everything in his power to try and get the win,
but my feeling is that in the end, he will come up short and perhaps
go out on his shield in the later rounds.
While
it does seem harsh to write off such a magnificent champion like
'Chocolatito' the fact that he has been such a great champion over
the years makes it hard for one to see where he could go if he loses
this match. Especially if he loses it badly. One suspects (and
hopes) that Gonzalez has too much pride to allow himself to carry on
if it becomes apparent that he can no longer compete successfully at
the top level.
Hopefully,
this is one prediction that I have got wrong and 'Chocolatito' will
turn up tomorrow and prove all the doubters to be fools for writing
him off so quickly.
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