Is “Chocolatito” rightfully the underdog in this matchup? Does this bout reach the scorecards? Who wins and why?
Yafai is going to edge it, because for me it's obvious Gonzalez is basically gone. I would be very surprised if we saw anything resembling the Chocolatito of old.
Is he though? Both of his losses came to the same elite level fighter and it’s not like being 32 years old is past your prime.
There's a lot of wear and tear on his 32 compared to other fighters, and it's clear he isn't at his best weight at 115. His only good win at the weight was Caudras, who himself seems to be past it, and that was close.
I've seen a lot of people all over the web saying Chocolatito should be the odds on favorite, that even a Gonzalez that's operating at 50% of what he once was should have enough to get rid of Yafai, I couldn't disagree more. Yes, based on his last two outings, he's looked like a million bucks. But... that was against Moises Fuentes who was even more shot than Roman, Moises was utterly obliterated by both Kosei Tanaka and Daigo Higa, both in devastating fashion, yet it still took Roman 5 rounds to get him out of there. The Filipino Diocos he fought was a solid journeyman, and while yeah, he beat the brakes off of him and got him out of there in two, so what, so would most top tier or top 15 Super Flyweights. Fine, I get it, Yafai looked like warmed over ass meat against Israel Gonzalez, that might be worrying if it weren't for the fact that Israel went on to dominate Sho Ishida enough to earn a MD over Sho in Japan. He's clearly underrated, the loss to the damn good Ancajas notwithstanding, because that's nothing to be ashamed of. Yafai clearly underestimated him and didn't take the preparation for the match very seriously, and why should he, on paper he didn't look like a huge threat. Thus far Roman has looked subpar at Super Flyweight, even in winning, he was brutally busted up and looked like he'd had his head stuck in a wasp's nest for an hour after he fought the relatively light hitting Cuadras, and then he was smashed senseless by Sor Rungvisai, not once, but twice. Sure, there's controversy, but bull****, Sor Rungvisai did enough to win their first encounter as well. They don't give relatively unknown Thai trashmen gifts over the name fighters, that's just a fact of life. It was well earned. So, he's been beaten to a pulp, barely edging the match against Cuadras, smashed to bits by Srisaket twice and beat up a shot fighter and a journeyman. Whereas Yafai has picked up a series of fairly impressive wins and struggled once against an unheralded underrated fighter he wasn't expecting much from, it happens. Now... if you watch the Diocos fight, aside from him getting him out of there early, you'd also see him getting lit up at times by the Filipino, yeah Roman's head and upper body movement was there, but slightly delayed, like he's not as sharp as he used to be. That was just two months ago, so if he looked a step off then, he's probably still a step off. This will be Roman's 51st match and the vast majority of the last decade he's been in his fair share of wars. In the lower divisions guys age faster than usual, it's a young man's game down there... big time, and Yafai is younger, sharper, fresher and probably faster. He's got a good chin, is decent on the front foot or the backfoot, and he's much bigger than Roman. So as sad as it is to say this... I think Yafai is going to beat Roman into retirement. Yes, I know he's not on Estrada and Sor Rungvisai's level, but I do think he's on Cuadras' and had Cuadras had fair judging, a draw wouldn't have been out of the question. Well Yafai will have Matchroom bought and paid for judges, but the catch is, I doubt he'll even need them. Yafai wins by KO9
If Choco has enough in the tank such as the Cuadras fight, he'd still win based on his ATG skillset and experience. However, that is very, very doubtful. It is much more likely Choco is basically finished at the top, elite level - although Yafai isn't at this level really, but he is a good boxer with the youth and size to edge him on. As CST said, Roman is above his limit at 115 (I scored the first SSR bout a draw fyi) and it's likely Yafai takes a decision, where Choco is a bit too shot to pull the trigger fast enough.
Unfortunately Naoya Inoue was ordered to bypass Flyweight, to protect Roman Gonzalez 40-0-0 record. Naoya Inoue Should fix this discrepancy.... He should move down to 112 first, beating Roman Gonzalez in a tune-up, then he should attempt to beat ATG 54-0-0-0 Wanheng Menayothin, after Wanheng win or lose, he can then move up with peace of mind...Give Luis Nery the works This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
These are the type of replies I want to hear! Excellent post! I was leaning Gonzalez myself but I think you’ve convinced me otherwise.
You'll have to eat those words. Roman looked good his last two outings and only ever looked bad on one night.
Tend to agree with the prevailing wisdom here. Although I don't really rate Yafai and don't think. Gonzalez has to be near his best to get a win here. If he hasn't fallen off more and shows about at let's say 70% he edges a competitive decision. But since it's hard to gauge how much he has left in the tank from the little ring time we've seen in the last few years it's impossible to know how much is exactly left. So the safe pick is probably Yafai decision but Gonzalez will probably have enough flashes to make it somewhat interesting but ultimately falling short. Still I wouldn't be surprised if he proved us wrong and edged a win here and I hope he does.
Kal looks strong at the weigh-in. Choco a little soft as has been the trend at 115lbs. The Cuadras fight and Rungivsai saga took a lot out of him. If there's enough to hold it together then skill should prevail. Tough to call.