Roman Gonzalez knocks out Edgar Sosa n the second round of their WBC Flyweight World Championship bout at the Forum Arena in Los Angeles, California on May 16, 2015. (Getty)
Roman Gonzalez put on a dazzling display of boxing while successfully defending his WBC World flyweight title, and his unblemished record, by stopping Edgar Sosa on Saturday night at the “Fabulous” Forum in Inglewood, California.
The end came at 2:37 of the second round, when referee Raul Caiz Sr. halted the fight following three knockdowns in the same installment.
Chocolatito came out stalking, with Sosa working the perimeter and keeping his distance. But Gonzalez went to work early on in the fight, using his ring generalship and pressure to corner his prey against the ropes and unload with combinations.
Sosa came out standing his ground for the second installment. But Chocolatito’s relentless pressure, power, and thunderous combinations were too much for the battle-tested warrior and it was an early night for the still-undefeated Roman Gonzalez.
CompuBox numbers had Gonzalez landing 72 of 130 punches; Sosa, 14 for 106.
A 15-year veteran of the ring, former WBC Light Flyweight Champion Edgar Sosa (51-9, 30 KOs), came into Saturday’s fight off of back-to-back wins over not-too-well-knowns Carlos Melo and Omar Salado. Those fights were preceded by Sosa’s most recent defeat, in a hard-fought 10-rounder against Akira Yaegashi.
Despite being virtually unknown to American audiences, owing to the lack of popularity in the lower weight classes in the United States, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs) is considered by most insiders and experts to be one of the top five pound-for-pound boxers in the sport today.
Previous to Saturday’s fight, former WBA light flyweight and WBA strawweight champion Gonzalez had kayo’ed a shopworn Valentin Leon after three dominating rounds. Going into the Valentin encounter, Gonzalez, 27 years old, had dazzled over Rocky Fuentes and Akira Yaegashi.
It had been three years since Roman Gonzalez’s last ring appearance in the United States. But after Saturday’s impressive performance, on the grand stage of HBO Boxing, Stateside fans hopefully won’t have to wait too long to get another taste of the sweet science of Chocolatito.