A fascinating case study in a young fighter's prime just SMACKING headlong into a wall like a Looney Tunes coyote pursuing a roadrunner into a physics-defying tunnel. At one point in time Buitrago was a 21 year old poised to conquer the boxing world as the heir apparent to mentor Román Alberto "Chocolatito" González Luna. Chocolatito - then a 2-division champion in his absolute prime at 26 and the darling of boxing hipsters everywhere already, being a mainstay on p4p lists for years - was talking up his friend and training partner as being his successor as the face of Nicaragüense prizefighting, just as he inherited that mantle from his own mentor and stylistic lodestone Andrés Alexis "El Flaco Explosivo" Argüello Bohórquez. They are only 5 years apart in age, with Buitrago's pro debut coming just three years after González, but in November of 2013 conventional logic dictated that we'd see the latter's career begin to slowly wind down as the former's star became ascendant. Just a few weeks after González crushed Óscar Blanquet while biding his time waiting for the opportunity to become champ in a 3rd division (it would come soon, against Akira Yaegashi) the younger Nicaraguan received his first crack at world championship gold - taking on the also unbeaten Filipino southpaw Merlito Labrador "JunJun Tiger" Sabillo Jr. for the WBO minimumweight title. Alas, though Buitrago clearly deserved the nod there was a home cooked draw. Nonetheless, it was the rare case of a fighter's stock skyrocketing in a loss. Everybody that watched it agreed he was world class and a fitting success to González, albeit lacking his KO power. Big things lay ahead, surely... Look at his career thereafter. 27-0-0-1 (16) before Sabillo. Guess what his record is since? 13-15. Granted, the first four losses came in world title challenges - falling just short twice against Thammanoon "Knockout CP Freshmart" Niyomtrong, then being stopped by Hiroto "Mad Boy" Kyōguchi and Ángel Acosta Gómez. There's really no shame in any of those. At this point, in 2018, he was 30-4-1 and had only failed against elites. Outside the ring, however, this chaos was unfolding: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...ncito-accused-of-conspiracy-to-murder.604134/ In the last seven years he is 10-11 and losing to some decidedly non-elite players (bar Acosta in a rematch, and Ricardo Rafael Sandoval twice). He is now essentially a record-padder, and for some reason a light welterweight. A washout at 33. A pair of the young men that have stopped him in recent years are both in action this week - the aforementioned Sandoval tomorrow morning against Kenshiro Teraji, and Nathan Devon "El Morenito" Rodríguez on the Gabe Rosado vs. Críspulo Andino / Jerwin Ancajas vs. Ruben Casero undercard on Saturday. That's actually what prompted me to create this very thread - doing some light research on BoxRec for this week's festivities and noticing that Buitrago getting knocked around was getting to be a recurring theme. Who ever would have thought, back in those halcyon days of 2013, that twelve years later it would somehow be CHOCOLATITO and not Chocorroncito that was the more viable contender in 2025?
I used really like Buitrago. His style was so smooth and cerebral. Just why his career after 2020 panned out like Danny Williams is really weird. And in most of his fights he didn't bother to make weight, which is also bizarre, because he came across as a serious guy. He fought Elwin Soto for the WBO belt, and it was pretty close. He even had Miguel Cotto in his corner to help him out. This content is protected This is a fight of his from last year. He doesn't even look that bad in shape.
