Notebook: 'Chocolatito' pays tribute to beloved Nicaragua and mentor Arguello
Benavidez eyes Charlo; big Lee KO; Quick hits; Show and tell
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has won world titles in four divisions, was widely considered the pound-for-pound king from 2015 to 2017 and is a lock for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. But Gonzalez never forgot where he came from and has become an icon in his home country of Nicaragua.
He is revered as, at worst, the second-best boxer from his nation with only the late, great Hall of Famer and three-division champion Alexis Arguello ahead of him. It was Arguello who discovered Gonzalez, trained him as an amateur and early in his pro career and was involved with the promotional company that once represented him.
Gonzalez has a much-anticipated rematch against Juan Francisco Estrada to unify two junior bantamweight titles on Saturday night (DAZN and PPV, 8 ET) at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and a win could very well convince many to rank him ahead of the great Arguello.
But it took Gonzalez (50-2, 41 KOs), 33, time to achieve wide acclaim at home. He had to prove himself first.
That began when he traveled to Japan and won a strawweight world title from Yutka Niida in 2008, and made three defenses.
At junior flyweight, the last of his five defenses was a highly competitive unanimous decision win in a slugfest with Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs), 30, of Mexico, in 2012 before vacating. Gonzalez returned to Japan in 2014 and knocked out Akira Yaegashi in the ninth round to win the flyweight title and match Arguello as a three-division champion. Gonzalez made four defenses before moving up in weight again. At junior bantamweight he has had two title reigns, including the current one that began last March with an upset ninth-round knockout of Kal Yafai in Frisco, Texas.
“When I fought Yaegashi, the question that all of Nicaragua had was, ‘Are you on the same level as Alexis Arguello,’” Gonzalez said through a translator. “I won that third title in Japan and then a fourth title came (against Carlos Cuadras in 2016), where everybody was waiting expectantly to see if I’d win it. I trained a lot because it was one of my dreams. And then -- boom! I won the title and Nicaragua welcomed me like never before.
“I’m so proud to have represented my country with such dignity. And well, I’m so happy for my parents, my family. And for Alexis, who was always there for me, teaching me the good things about this boxing world.”
He has not forgotten the lessons Arguello taught him as an amateur and young pro.
“I always respected all the orders Alexis gave me because he’s a three-time champion. It’s an honor,” Gonzalez said. “He was like my father. We were very close. Sometimes he invited me to his house, and I remember being at his house, eating and I got relaxed, and he dropped me off at my fight and that day was the first time that I got hit hard. I was scared, but I got up and I knocked the guy out. But those are life experiences that I had with him where I learned.”
He learned well enough to become an all-time great while remaining ever humble.
“I consider myself a man who’s done the best that I could,” he said. “I had difficult times growing up but, in the end, it worked out well. Life has taught me a lot of things, and I learned. And I feel and think that I’ve already conquered many things in boxing. What comes now with this title is just extra. I never imagined myself getting to where I am now. But wow, it is still hard. It costs me because I train the right way. I do things the way they should be done. But I like it and it’s what’s let me help my family, help my kids. I don’t complain because I thank God for where I am now.
“When I retire, I will leave very satisfied and very happy to have been able to have so much success for my kids and my family, and also for the people of Nicaragua.”
Benavidez wants Charlo
Former two-time super middleweight world titlist David Benavidez said he expects to score a quick knockout of Ronald Ellis when they meet in a WBC super middleweight semifinal title elimination bout that headlines Saturday on Showtime (9 p.m. ET) at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
And since he believes he will roll past Ellis (18-1-2, 12 KOs), 31, of Lynn, Massachusetts, Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs), 24, of Phoenix, had no problem talking about how much he wants a bigger fight, including against unified world champion Canelo Alvarez, titlist Caleb Plant, up-and-comer Edgar Berlanga or middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo, who has called him out.
There has been respect between Benavidez and those fighters, except for Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs). He drew Benavidez’s ire after he heard about comments Charlo had made about him in an interview.
“The deal between me and Charlo is people were asking me about him and I’d hear he would come up in weight to 168,” Benavidez told Fight Freaks Unite. “They ask me about him and I said I’d love to fight him. I never disrespected the dude. I said I would love to fight him and he did an interview and he said, ‘I would knock David Benavidez the fuck out. I would snap his neck.’ So, I’m like, well, OK, that’s what you’re gonna do to me, right? Now I’m expecting you to take the fight if you hear a fighter talking like that. You think it’s a guaranteed fight, and honestly, that would be a great fight for both of us. I feel like that could be a good pay-per-view fight. A lot people would love to see that fight. It’s a guaranteed knockout. I go forward, he goes forward.”
He said despite Charlo’s tough talk he has backed away from the fight by making outlandish demands.
“So, I say what I got to say, putting a little bit of pressure on him, and then I don’t know if he got scared or what what but now he’s backpedaling,” Benavidez said. “(He says) I have to be vaccinated (against Covid-19). I have to be older than 25 and now he wants to fight at a catch weight. I never said I would fight at a catch weight. You’re the one who said you were going to knock me out. So, if you’re not ready to meet me at super middleweight or fight me as soon as possible then keep my name out of your mouth. Hopefully, it’s still a possibility that fight can be made. I feel like that’s an amazing fight. That’s the type of fight boxing needs right now.”
Lee scores massive KO
Junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee took on his most notable opponent in Samuel Teah and brutally knocked him out with a flush right hand on the chin in the third round on Wednesday night in the main event of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” card at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Lee (22-0, 20 KOs), 21, of La Quinta, California, dropped Teah (17-4-1, 7 KOs), 33, of Philadelphia, for the first time in his career with a combination earlier in the third round before knocking him cold for a KO of the year contender at 1 minute, 43 seconds.
“Honestly, I don’t think I learned a whole lot tonight,” said Lee, who has scored 13 consecutive knockouts. “I knew he couldn’t outbox me. I knew he couldn’t outpunch me. I knew the knockout was going to come and that one was definitely one of my top one or two favorites so far in my career.”
Also on the quadrupleheader:
Washington, D.C., junior lightweight Jordan White (11-1, 9 KOs) stopped Denver’s Misael Lopez (11-1, 5 KOs) in the sixth-round of a back-and-forth scrap. White dropped Lopez twice in the sixth round.
Philadelphia lightweight Steven Ortiz (12-0, 3 KOs) relied heavily on his jab to outpoint New Orleans’ Jeremy Hill (14-1, 9 KOs), 79-73, 77-75 and 77-75.
Berlin, New Jersey, lightweight Victor Padilla (9-0, 8 KOs) overcame a first-round knockdown to drop and stop his former sparring partner Thomas Velasquez (10-1-1, 6 KOs), of Philadelphia, in the fifth round.
Confident Ford
Blue chip featherweight prospect Raymond Ford (8-0, 4 KOs), 21, of Camden, New Jersey, is as confident as they come.
“I feel I am the best prospect in all of boxing, not just at Matchroom, I’m talking everywhere,” said Ford, who is promoted by Matchroom Boxing. “I feel like I could be a contender by the end of the year, but I want to fight five more times after this fight and then going into 2022 I want to challenge myself and get a shot at the world title. This is what I have been waiting for. It’s time to show who I really am.”
By “this fight” Ford means his scheduled eight-round bout against El Paso, Texas, native Aaron Perez (10-0, 6 KOs), 23, on the undercard of the Gonzalez-Estrada rematch on Saturday night.
“I don’t want to be just beating guys that I am supposed to beat,” Ford said. “(Perez is) a young, unbeaten prospect, the same as me, and I feel that this is the perfect start to show who I am.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into the pros, whether I would be moving fast or moving slow. I was just going along with it. I’ve recently been looking to make the decisions to move fast a few fights ago. Even with Covid I fought three times last year and the first card wasn’t until August, so (promoter) Eddie Hearn is moving me along great, and they are starting to test me now.”
Ring City USA column
The second of three Ring City USA cards in a row in Puerto Rico will take place in Salinas on March 18 with Puerto Rico's Alberto Machado, a former junior lightweight world titlist, squaring off with Mexico's Angel Fierro in the 10-round lightweight main event. In boxing, whenever there is a Puerto Rican fighter against a Mexican one, it adds another chapter to the best nationalistic rivalry in boxing. So, with that fight headlining the upcoming card, I wrote my most recent Ring City column on my favorite fights matching a Puerto Rican against a Mexican. Please read the column here: https://mailchi.mp/80fda3aa5c72/boxings-main-attractions-5222652?e=1cca2f980b
Quick hits
As long as a suitable opponent can be signed, heavyweight up-and-comer Efe Ajagba (14-0, 11 KOs), 26, a 2016 Nigerian Olympian fighting out of Stafford, Texas, is penciled in to fight in the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN co-feature to the Joe Smith Jr.-Maxim Vlasov vacant light heavyweight title bout on April 13 at a site to be announced, Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told Fight Freaks Unite.
Promoter Lou DiBella, long an advocate of women’s boxing, announced he will put on his first all-women’s “Broadway Boxing” card on April 23 (UFC Fight Pass). DiBella told Fight Freaks Unite it likely will take place in Tampa, Florida. Former featherweight titlist Heather Hardy (22-1, 4 KOs), 39, of Brooklyn, New York, who in 2013 became the first woman DiBella signed to a long-term deal, will headline against Jessica Camara (7-2), 32, of Montreal, in an eight-round bout. Hardy, who is 2-2 in MMA, will be boxing for the first time since losing her title by one-sided decision to Amanda Serrano in September 2019. “When I got the call from Lou, I knew I had to get back in the gym,” Hardy said. “I could never leave this game on a loss. I’m a bit bigger, but also older and wiser. 2021 is the year of the comeback.”
Junior welterweight prospect Artur “The Chechen Wolf” Biyarslanov (7-0, 6 KOs), a Chechnya native fighting out of Toronto, who was already a late addition to the Gonzalez-Estrada II card on Saturday night, is now off the show, manager Keith Connolly told Fight Freaks Unite. Biyarslanov, 25, was slated to take a major step up in competition in his first eight-rounder against Juan Carlos Burgos (34-4-2, 21 KOs), 33, of Mexico. However, Burgos, a former world title challenger, fell out on Wednesday because his passport had expired and he was unable to come to the United States.
Blue chip lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (1-0, 1 KO), 22, of Norfolk, Virginia, the highly touted amateur who turned pro with a second-round knockout win in his pro debut on the Canelo Alvarez-Avni Yildirim undercard on Feb. 27, will be back in action quickly. He will next fight on the undercard of the Jamel Herring-Carl Frampton junior lightweight title bout on April 3 at Caesars Palace Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, event promoter D4G Promotions announced. “I am excited to establish myself as an international boxer. My pro debut show in Miami was a big one, but I’m going to put on an even bigger show in Dubai,” said Davis, a 2017 National Golden Gloves champion and 2019 amateur world championships silver medalist.
Light heavyweight up-and-comer Joshua Buatsi (13-0, 11 KOs), 27, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist from England, announced he has parted ways with trainer Mark Gillespie and will move his training camp to California’s Bay Area to be trained by Virgil Hunter. Buatsi is penciled in to top a Matchroom Boxing card May 15 (DAZN) in the United Kingdom. He said he made the change in part because he admires what Hunter accomplished with Hall of Fame former light heavyweight and super middleweight champion Andre Ward. “It’s mainly the style I like. Each of his fighters translates to it differently,” Buatsi told Sky Sports. “Ward got to the highest level and achieved everything and is someone who operated at my weight.” Buatsi and Hunter became acquainted in June 2019 in New York at the first Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz fight.
Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz announced he has signed female amateur standout Gabriela “Sweet Poison” Fundora to a promotional. Fundora, 18, a junior bantamweight from Coachella, California, is the younger sister of junior middleweight contender Sebastian “Towering Inferno” Fundora. Like her 6-foot-5 brother, Fundora, a southpaw, is exceptionally tall for her weight class at 5-9. She has boxed since she was 6 and won the 2017 USA National Junior Championships. She will have her pro debut in May, Lewkowicz said. She recently spent time in the training camp of former undisputed welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus in Big Bear, California.
Show and tell
The first boxer I was ever a fan of was Sugar Ray Leonard. I was a kid in the late 1970s when he turned pro after winning a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics. I remember kids at school talking about him. I remember seeing him on magazine covers and in TV commercials. Who would have ever guessed that decades later I would get to know him, hang out with him and call fights with him on Epix. He even once invited me to a card he was promoting at the famed Playboy mansion in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it. As big of a star as Leonard was coming into the pro ranks, he shot to another level when he dethroned fellow Hall of Famer Wilfred Benitez, stopping him in the 15th round to win the WBC welterweight title at the Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas on Nov. 30, 1979 in prime time on ABC. The co-feature was Marvin Hagler’s first world title shot, which resulted in a disputed draw against unified middleweight champion Vito Antuofermo. The program from the card is quite difficult to find, much less in high grade. But I recently did find a very nice one and was thrilled to add this long sought-after program to my collection.
Gonzalez photo: Matchroom Boxing; Lee-Teah photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Ford photo: Matchroom Boxing