By Jake Donovan
His fights are anything but quiet or timid affairs, yet somehow in the midst of a huge boxing week featherweight titlist Jhonny Gonzalez managed to get lost in the shuffle.
The 30-year old Mexican quietly returns to the ring this weekend when he defends against Panamanian contender Roinet Caballero in Mexico City. The bout airs live on ESPN Deportes in the United States and on Televisa in his native Mexico (Saturday, 10:30PM ET/7:30PM PT).
A full loaded boxing weekend has seen more focused placed on the major pay-per-view card headlined by the rematch between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito in New York City, as well as the Showtime bantamweight doubleheader airing live from Anaheim, California.
Sneaking in through the back door, Gonzalez (50-7, 44KO) fights for the fourth time this weekend. It comes on a night where he will struggle to demand the spotlight, which is ironic considering that his past several bouts have all featured memorable moments which qualify as must-see TV.
While trying his hardest to avoid the temptation of looking ahead, Gonzalez and his handlers perhaps realize that more notable opposition will earn him the respect his career long deserves.
“After this, I would love to fight the bigger names in the division,” Gonzalez states while preparing for the third defense of his featherweight belt. “Yuriorkis Gamboa, Juan Manuel Lopez, Elio Rojas, Javier Fortuna – I’ll even move up to lightweight to face (recently crowned titlist) Antonio DeMarco.”
He first needs a win this weekend before moving on to future opportunities. With that comes Caballero, who was originally slated to face Gonzalez earlier this summer only for the fight to be delayed due to Caballero running into a visa issue, leaving each fighter to head in different directions.
The break gave Caballero (31-10-1, 22KO) a chance to add to his winning streak, now at four straight after surviving a late knockdown to otherwise easily outpoint Aristides Perez in his native Panama.
Gonzalez enters Saturday’s fight having won ten straight, all by knockout and none running deeper than six rounds. Included among the lot is a career-defining comeback stoppage win over former two-division champ Hozumi Hasegawa on the road in Japan earlier this year.
The win netted Gonzalez an alphabet featherweight title, marking his second tour as a titlist. His first reign came at bantamweight, serving as champion for nearly two years before suffering a one-punch knockout to Gerry Penalosa. The stretch had its ups and downs, including an HBO-televised win over Fernando Montiel in a rare stinker, and a crushing 10th round knockout loss to in a failed attempt to dethrone 122 lb. king Israel Vazquez on pay-per-view just four months later.
Most notable of his reign was the fact that it took place exclusively in the United States. His win over Hasegawa came in Japan, with subsequent defenses against Tomas Villa and Rogers Mtagwa also serving stateside.
His upcoming defense against Caballero marks the first time Gonzalez enjoys a title fight in his hometown of Mexico City. The closest he came was in another failed bid at capturing a 122 lb. title in a third round knockout to Toshiaki Nishioka in Monterey in May ’09.
“The fight comes in an arena that holds 7,000 fans,” notes Oswaldo Kuchle of Promociones del Pueblo, who handles Gonzalez’ career along with stateside partner Goossen Tutor Promotions. “It will be a big event in Mexico City, the first time he fights here as a champion.”
With the thrill that comes with fighting in front of a hometown crowd, also comes the pressure of looking good in front of all your homeboys. But that only serves as part of the motivation to impress this weekend.
Gonzalez’ most recent win marked a pair of special occasions. A second-round knockout of Rogers Mtagwa came on the Mexican’s 30th birthday, also serving as his 50th career win. The event was captured on ESPN Deportes, the biggest fight he’s enjoyed in the states in more than four years.
With his ability to end a fight at any given time (his last 15 wins coming by way of knockout), Gonzalez believes it’s high time he returns to a larger platform.
“I am ready for this fight, and look to make a statement,” Gonzalez insists. “I want to show the boxing world that I belong on HBO and Showtime.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter @JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
