By Mark Vester

Former bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (40-7, 35KOs) is looking for a fresh start. After being knocked out in three rounds by then WBC super bantamweight champ Toshiaki Nishioka, Gonzalez was considering retirement. He returned to the ring on September 5 in Mexico as a featherweight, stopping Jose Francisco Mendoza in one round. He is now under the full-time guidance of Nacho Beristain, one of the best trainers in the sport. Gonzalez now trains out of Nachos' famous Romanza Gym in Mexico.

"It was necessary to change my career. So I decided to come to work with Nacho Beristain. I hope to become a world champion again. My last championship match was against Toshiaki Nishioka, last May in Monterrey. I was confident of winning, but lost by being overconfident," Gonzalez told ESTO.

"After this defeat I felt awful. I came down mentally, and even thought of retirement. But I retracted, and decided to make changes in my career, and with a new beginning I decided to look at other trainers, and here I am with Mr. Beristain.

Gonzalez was ahead on points when took on Israel Vazquez and Gerry Penalosa. He was knocked out in both fights after fading in the late rounds. He hopes to become a champion again.

"With Nacho I hope to become a world champion again. The idea is to win two or three fights, and then get a new opportunity. Yes, I lost big fights. I was dominating Israel Vazquez. I had knocked him down twice, had him cut, but I got tired. It was not lack of preparation. What happened was that it was a I fight very hard and fatigue set in. With Gerry Penalosa, I was also dominating, but for that fight I was very weak from making the weight and had very little gas to finish," Gonzalez said.

He is slated to return on November 7 at Salón 21 in Mexico City. Gonzalez wants another title opportunity in 2010.

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