Cuadras Ready to Deliver a Knockout Birthday Gift To Chocolatito

By Jake Donovan

Boxing luminaries took time to send birthday wishes to Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez, the reigning World flyweight king and consensus pound-for-pound leader who turned 29 years old on Friday.

Perhaps not as celebratory was the message that came from at least one potential foe still waiting in the bullpen.

“Wherever Roman Gonzalez is enjoying his birthday, I hope when he blows out his candles he wishes to become a four-division world champion,” noted reigning unbeaten super flyweight titlist Carlos Cuadras to BoxingScene.com on Friday, translated through promoter Oswaldo Kuchle of Promociones del Pueblo. “I’m ready to defend whenever he wants to accept the challenge and fight me.”

Gonzalez (45-0, 38KOs) has talked in recent weeks of moving up in an effort to become the first-ever boxer from Nicaragua to win titles in four weight classes. His boxing idol, the late Alexis Arguello fell short of that dream in a pair of knockout losses to Aaron Pryor. Most famously, the former three-division champ was holding his own during their incredible Nov. 1982 war before suffering a 14th round knockout that was later overshadowed by speculation that Pryor was given banned supplements to increase his endurance and stamina in the later rounds.

No boxer has yet to get the best of Gonzalez, who stormed through strawweight and mostly through junior flyweight before fending off a stiff challenge from Juan Francisco Estrada in their Nov. ’12 slugfest. The bout was Gonzalez’ last at the weight, moving up soon thereafter but not joining Arguello as a three-division champ until a Sept. ’14 knockout win over Akira Yaegashi.

Four successful defenses have followed, including a 12-round win over McWilliams Arroyo in his most recent ring appearances this past April. Pre-fight whispers suggested a second straight camp where it was increasingly difficult to boil down to the 112-pound flyweight limit, with Gonzalez himself pondering a move to super flyweight.

Gladly awaiting him with open arms is Cuadras (35-0-1, 27KOs), who has already racked up six defenses of the World Boxing Council (WBC) super flyweight belt he obtained in May ’14. As the WBC also recognizes Gonzalez as its flyweight champ, the Mexico-based sanctioning body has thrown its full support behind the suggestion of such a fight.

There are a lot of moving parts in place, including American cable giant HBO – which has featured Gonzalez in each of his last three fights and plans to showcase him as a main event fighter – finding a date and the necessary budget to get him back on its airwaves.

The network is very receptive to the idea of the fight. Given that, Cuadras’ team is curious as to how big of a hurry Gonzalez is to back up his own words.

“Carlos Cuadras is a real challenge for boxing’s pound-for-pound best,” Kuchle points out to BoxingScene.com, not suggesting an uphill battle but more so the type of risk that past greats were willing to take to prove their own level of superiority. “For Roman, the message is simple: accept our challenge and accept this fight. Past pound-for-pound kings weren’t afraid of moving up in weight to take on tough challenges. That’s what made them the best.”

Should such a fight materialize, it will likely take place sometime towards the end of the third quarter, at which point Cuadras will be more than happy to deliver Gonzalez a belated present.

“Roman, we wish you a happy birthday,” Kuchle states. “In September, Carlos will personally give you a knockout gift.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2