The greatness of Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez should be appreciated by all

Future Hall of Famer small in stature but a giant of boxing

I am not sure if there is anything more enjoyable to watch in boxing today than the great Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez go to work. He is a true legend. A lock first-ballot Hall of Famer. One of the all-time best.

To watch him absolutely take apart the much younger and talented Julio Cesar Martinez in their recent fight was a thing of beauty. Many thought Martinez, who holds the WBC flyweight title, had a serious chance to defeat Gonzalez even though he was moving up to face him at junior bantamweight and doing so on a few weeks’ notice after champion Juan Francisco Estrada came down with Covid-19 and had to withdraw from their trilogy fight.

But Gonzalez never let Martinez, who had come in overweight, get into the fight. He overwhelmed him with activity and precision en route to a lopsided unanimous decision. Martinez got a few rounds from the judges but it easily could have been a shutout.

Gonzalez is so calm in the ring, so technically sound, so accurate with his shots, and so punishing with those shots, that he is extremely hard to beat.