This content is protected Apparently the surgery, which will be on Friday - January 30th, will keep Gonzalez out of the ring for the entire year. His manager - Carlos Blandon, mentioned that Roman wants to fight, although at 39 years old and his next fight potentially lined up for 2027, I rather have him retire. Better to end his career this way rather than to be beaten by someone who isn't on his level.
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its students. He's on the wrong side of thirty to be continuing after something like that.
How he battled back to the top of the division(yeah idc he won at least one of those Estrada fights) after the Rungvisai losses is a testament to how great of a fighter he was. 39, inactivity and shoulder surgery at this stage = game over especially for a lower weight guy. But he deserves to go out how he wants. I just hope he isn't cherry picked by some upandcomer.
No reason for him to keep continuing if he has to wait for this long to heal. Fighters in his weight class usually don't stick around at his age. I'd rather he retire now instead of coming back at age 40 and eventually running into someone that could possibly beat him. Hopefully he chooses to leave the sport for good on his own terms without taking any more damage.