Chocolatito's Options To Be Evaluated, Yafai Not Ruled Out

By Steve Kim

Four division world champion Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez (47-2, 39 KOs) made a triumphant return to the ring this past Saturday night, by chopping down Moises Fuentes in five rounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The future Hall-of-Famer had not been in action since suffering a knockout loss at the hands of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in their rematch last September.

The victory over Fuentes snapped a two-fight losing streak and also gave Gonzalez his first win since September 2016.

So what's next, will he return later this year or perhaps wait for 'SuperFly 4' next spring?

"That's a good question," said Tom Loeffler, who is the Stateside promoter for the Nicaraguan, to BoxingScene.com.

"I have to sit down with HBO and see what the options are there and then talk to Mr.(Akihiro) Honda and Teiken Promotons and his manager, Carlos Blandon, to see what direction they want to go. I think Roman really came back with a bang after suffering a devastating knockout. You never know how a  fighter's going to react and fighting the bigger guy like Fuentes and getting that kind of knockout, especially showing the volume of punches that Chocolatito is famous for.

"I think we can say that he's back on his winning ways and hopefully put the biggest fight together for him that we can."

As for the possibility of him facing Khalid Yafai (the reigning WBA115-pound titlist) who is affiliated with Matchroom Sports and DAZN, Loeffler told BoxingScene.com - "We'll have to see who 'Chocolatito' wants to fight but that could be an interesting fight and if it's the right financial situation on DAZN that would be something to consider, although we have to see what HBO has in store and then we try to chart the best course of Chocolatito."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.