'Chocolatito' returns, drops Barrera twice in 10th-round knockout
Victory could lead to either bantamweight title shot or possibly showdown with junior bantamweight champion 'Bam' Rodriguez
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, the four-division champion and former pound-for-pound king, made a triumphant return to the ring in a Managua, Nicaragua, homecoming on Friday night, delivering a one-sided battering of Rober Barrera to set up a possible shot at a title in a fifth weight class or even a possible fight with junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.
Gonzalez, who was fighting for the first time in 19 months, moved up to bantamweight for a fight contracted at 117 pounds and dropped Barrera twice en route to a 10th-round knockout in their scheduled 10-rounder in the main event of an All Star Boxing card at the Alexis Arguello Sports Center, the arena named for the late Hall of Famer, who trained a young Gonzalez and was his mentor.
“It was a very demanding fight,” Gonzalez said through an interpreter. “I was surprised that this young man could take a lot of punishment, but we’re here and we’re back again in my home country of Nicaragua. It was a good fight.”
With the wild crowd cheering his every move, Gonzalez, who had not boxed in Nicaragua, where he is a national hero, since a third-round knockout of Valentin Leon in a nontitle bout in February 2015, took it to former junior flyweight world title challenger Barrera (27-6 17 KOs), 31, of Colombia, from the outset of a bout that streamed on ESPN+ in the United States.
I am in my 25th year of full-time boxing coverage. Take advantage of that experience by upgrading to a paid subscription to read the rest of this post and for full access to all posts and comments — and also support independent journalism.