Chocolatito: All Rungvisai Has is a Punch, It Won't Be That Difficult

By Elisinio Castillo

Four division world champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez will train in Costa Rica for the scheduled mandatory defense against Thai puncher Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (41-4-1, 38 KO's).

The fight was officially announced last week, for the 18th of March, at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The contest will be the HBO Pay-Per-View co-feature to the middleweight fight between IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC champion Gennady Golovkin and mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs.

In his last fight, which took place last September at the Forum in Los Angeles, Chocolatito (46-0, 38 KO's) won a tough twelve round decision over Carlos Cuadras to capture the WBC super flyweight title.

The victory gave Chocolatito the distinction of being the only boxer from Nicaragua to capture four world titles. He previously picked up belts at 112 pounds, 108 pounds and 105 pounds.

"Sor Rungvisai is a fighter who is fit, his fighting style suits me but I must be careful because he hits hard. I have all the tools to defeat him. I do not see it as being very difficult. The best he has is his punch, nothing else. I'm not overlooking him, because even a fighter who is not that good can knock you out. He is a messy fighter, I must be careful with the head butts," said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, along with his team, confirmed that he will travel to Costa Rica to start his training camp supervised by his coach Wilmer Hernandez. From there he will travel directly to New York a week before the fight, without returning to Nicaragua.

"In Costa Rica the paths for running are good. I never liked the cold, in Big Bear my skin became brittle because of the cold, and maybe that affected me in the fight against Cuadras," said the boxer in reference to the differences he perceived when comparing his time training in Big Bear, California, and in Costa Rica.