The sudden fall of Chocolatito

The other thing is that Gonzalez has been in far more fights, some absolute wars, than Rigo.

 

The answer is all of the above. Moving up past his best weight, but primarily his ring age. Little guys do burn out faster, and he already was noticeably not quite the same his last couple fights.

And we have to acknowledge that he wasn't quite as good as a lot of us thought, and specifically that he likely would've had problems against the best of some styles had he faced them earlier.

Of course anyone saying he wasn't elite is an idiot. He had an amazing career, beat a lot of top contenders and champs, he's a lower weight ATG. He's a great talent, verstaile combination puncher, brilliant footwork to create his attack.

He does not have lateral movement, doesn't box well on the outside, and does not have a back foot game. Some of his vulnerabilities were exposed against Estrada and Cuadras but also at moments in other fights, and what we should've watched for is the style he hadn't truly faced: he can walk down and back up litter-hitting boxers, but before SSR he hadn't shown he can handle himself or adjust against a skilled, strong, solid chinned, hard punching pressure fighter. Part of being a great p4p boxer should be proving you can clearly beat the best and excel against all styles.

Considering his deficiencies and that he was troubled against the other A level opponents he faced we should reappraise how good Gonzalez was. We're giving him a bit too much credit if we say it was only a fast fall or that SSR just had his number. I think in hindsight a Segura, well a Segura if he had a bit better footwork and tighter technique would likely have beaten him. Point being that as great as Gonzalez indeed has been we never should've believed he's someone who could beat basically anyone. While he was very well top 5 p4p for years, that's why he should never have been regarded as the number 1 boxer in the world. Should never have been rated above Floyd, Ward, Rigo, and when Loma and Crawford quickly rose they should've been unanimously been rated higher.

And I ignored it till now, but I now acknowledge with others that while he of course wasn't a 'hypejob' HBO did 'overhype' him, and it was insulting to other top flyweights and knowledgeable fans how they showcased him. They treated every opponent like he was an afterthought tomato can, even if he was world-class. They should've aired more quality flyweight bouts and taken several other top little guys seriously, and suggested that Roman is probably the best but needs to be tested against other great talents in this great flyweight era.