By Radio Rahim
Abel Sanchez, trainer of several top fighters like middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, believes Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez is still capable of continuing his career.
On Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, the four division world champion suffered his second defeat in a row, when he was knocked out cold in four rounds by WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Gonzalez was dropped in the fourth, but got to his feet to continue the fight. And while trying to fight the champion off - he was caught cold with an inside hook that put him down and out for the count.
In the opinion of Sanchez, Manny Pacquiao was knocked out far worse back in 2012, when he was drilled cold by a single counter from Juan Manuel Marquez in the sixth round of their fourth meeting.
Pacquiao was off for a year before returning, but he did rebuild his career and made hundreds of millions in additional purses.
"I think Manny Pacquiao was knocked out a lot worse than Chocolatito was and Manny has done well after. I think it's up to Mr. Honda, who is a great promoter. I think if he decides to continue, a little rest is needed, but I think they will make the right decision for Chocolatito," Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.
However, when Pacquiao was knocked out - he was on the verge of stopping Marquez. In the case of the 30 year old Gonzalez, he was being overwhelmed from the very first round and had the look of a shot fighter.
Sanchez believes Chocolatito is just too small for the weight. Chocolatito captured titles at 105, 108 and 112 - and won most of those fights by knockout, but at 115 he's been unable to really hurt his opponents. And at the same time he's taken a lot of damage in all three of his fights at the weight.
"I've always thought that these guys are so much bigger than he is. His technical skills are great, his punching power was great at 105 and 108, at 112 - but at 115 they were able to withstand his power. And when you have this Thai guy moving him back with everything that he was hitting him with... not that he was hurting him, but you could see just how much physically stronger he was than Chocolatito. Its a matter of time when you stand in the middle of the ring as warriors and you get caught with a shot. I just think these guys are too big for him," Sanchez said.
"The thing is, he's a 105-pounder. He's a strawweight. And if you try to box these guys from the outside, these guys are going to be longer, they are going to be stronger, taller... its very difficult to fight a guy like that from the outside. He had to make it an inside fight and make it the type of fight where he can land a shot that can slow him down, but unfortunately he didn't."