Jhonny Gonzalez's Motivation Fueled By SHO Headliner

By Jake Donovan

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to imagine many believing that a 14-4 fighter—who’d lost his first two pro fights and wasn’t exactly turning heads—would pan out to enjoy success as he continued to rise in weight.

Jhonny Gonzalez was forced to deal with adversity literally from his first pro bout. It’s undoubtedly made him a better fighter, the fighter that he is today. Never once, though, did it shake his confidence. He turned pro with visions of winning titles, and was determined to do whatever it took to make that dream come true.

The fact that he’s still hovering near the top of the featherweight division is of little surprise to him. At age 33 and with 65 pro fights under his belt, Gonzalez continues to move towards the future, beginning with a dangerous title defense versus Gary Russell Jr. this weekend in Las Vegas.

Once again staring down the barrel of a shotgun, Gonzalez returns to the town where he was dealt his last loss. A five-fight win streak has followed his technical decision loss to Daniel Ponce de Leon in Sept. ’12, one that—just like all of the other defeats—was supposed to end his days as a major player in the sport.

Unfortunately for the experts, Gonzalez has never been one to give up on himself.

“It’s what all of this is all about. I never questioned that I’d one day win a world title, and never questioned that I’d come back to be the best (featherweight) in the world,” insists Gonzalez (57-8, 48KOs), whose showdown with Russell headlines on Showtime, live from The Palms in Las Vegas (Saturday, 10:00pm ET). “I had to assess what went right, what went wrong and move forward.

“I could never get to where I am today without looking back at what went wrong.”

The journey into yesteryear goes all the way back to when Gonzalez suffered back-to-back losses to Ricardo Vargas in 2002. The second setback in as many fights put his record at 14-4, killing the momentum he gained from rattling off 14 straight following an uninspiring 0-2 start to his career.

Plenty of factors went into his stumbling out the gate. Gonzalez was still one month shy of his 18th birthday when turning prop in Aug. ’99, and still a few months away from his 21st birthday following the repeat loss to Vargas.

Taking self-inventory, Gonzalez dusted himself off and punched his way into a 19-fight win streak. The turning point in his career, was 11 years ago to the day as this goes to publish. Live in front of an HBO Latino audience, Gonzalez upended previously unbeaten prospect Roger Gonzalez, flooring him three times in forcing a 6th round stoppage in his first fight back in the U.S. since his last loss.

The win was all it took for the fighting pride of Mexico City to discover his ring swagger, racking up several big wins and a bantamweight belt along the way. Included among the win streak was the only career loss he’s avenged to date, knocking out Hugo Vargas in the 3rd round of their Sept. ’04 bout, avenging a loss from five years prior.

A 10-fight stretch beginning with a knockout loss to Israel Vazquez in their underrated thriller in Sept. ’06 saw Gonzalez come up short three times on the world title stage. The setback versus Vazquez was a failed bid at the World lineal 122 lb. crown, before returning to bantamweight. Less than a year later, Gonzalez’ 118 lb. title reign came to an end after suffering a one-punch body shot knockout to veteran Gerry Peñalosa.

The good and bad of both fight was that Gonzalez was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage. The scores reflected his possessed talent to run with the best, although the end results suggested something was missing. In that same vain, hope was lost following a May ’09 knockout loss to Toshiaki Nishioka in a second failed attempt at capturing a belt at junior featherweight.

All it meant for Gonzalez was once again proving the critics wrong. That moment came on the road in Japan in April ’09. Trailing on the scorecards through three rounds, Gonzalez rallied for a one-punch knockout to collect the coveted “green and gold” belt (the WBC title) to begin the first of two tours as featherweight titlist.

The earlier mentioned loss to Ponce de Leon was a letdown on Gonzalez’ part—to himself and his fans, particularly with the defeat coming on his 31st birthday.

It’s the last time he would let anyone down, including himself. Among his five wins was a reclaiming of his old crown, a result so shocking it registered as BoxingScene.com’s Upset of the Year for 2013.

Abner Mares certainly didn’t see it coming. Unbeaten and having enjoyed title reigns in three weight classes, the rising young star was expected to collect a big win over a believed-to-be fading and vulnerable veteran before moving on to big money fights at featherweight.

A pair of vicious left hooks forever changed that perception, leading to the bout’s lone two knockdowns before Mares was stopped just before the end of round one in their Showtime-televised headliner.

The stunning win was the only among Gonzalez’ current five-fight win streak to take place in the United States and air on Showtime, faring far better than his last time in either scenario in his loss to Ponce de Leon.

“This is what keeps me going,” Gonzalez says of the opportunity to once again fight on Showtime. “I’m grateful for their giving me the opportunity to be back on the network.”

Of course, the opportunity comes primarily due to whom he’s facing. It’s not unlike his last fight, where Gonzalez was presented with an offer he couldn’t refuse in facing faded Mexican legend Jorge Arce. The fight was so big that a joint venture was agreed upon just to make it happen.

Arce’s promoter, Zanfer Promotions has always enjoyed a business relationship with TV Azteca, who in 2014 brought beIN Sports Español into the fold for its big events. BeIN Sports found itself working side-by-side with Televisa to present the most viewed fight in Mexico in all of 2014.

It wasn’t good news for Arce, who caught a beating to the point of Gonzalez easing up towards the end before closing the show with an 11th round mercy stoppage. Still, the future Hall-of-Famer landed a cushy gig with Televisa out of it, as he now serves as a color commentator for the network giant.

For the second straight time, Gonzalez finds himself on the concession end in making a fight happen. Russell Jr. is one of more than 200 fighters currently under the Al Haymon advisory banner, with Saturday’s show marking Showtime’s official foray into Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series.

It’s with that influence that Russell Jr. finds himself fighting for a featherweight title for the second time in less than a year, without ever posting a significant win to have earned either shot.

Still, his skills and backstory—a brilliant amateur who made it to the 2008 U.S. Olympic boxing team—makes him a viable threat. Stylistically, most experts feel it’s an unfavorable matchup for Gonzalez, who is the bigger puncher but who can also be outboxed.

Just as he’s always been wise to ignore the naysayers, Gonzalez knows better than to come into such a fight unprepared. 

“Gary is a very smart boxer, he’s a great fighter. He’s very fast and knows how to move around the ring,” Gonzalez acknowledges, though able to draw comparisons to a past opponent. “His style reminds me of Elio Rojas (a slick Dominican boxer whom Gonzalez defeated in April ’12).

“It’s going to be a very difficult fight on Saturday because of his style. His hand speed, his ring smarts, it will be a difficult fight. I have the skills to prove I am better fighter. I will cut off the ring and force him to fight my fight.”

Just as there is proof that Gonzalez can be outboxed and outfought, there too exists a blueprint for solving a fighter like Russell. It happened last June, when Vasyl Lomachenko—all of two fights into his pro career at the time after an incredible amateur run that included two Olympic Gold medals—boxed smartly early on and applied constant pressure as the fight progressed in pounding out a well-earned win in a horribly scored fight that should’ve been wider than the final scores.

“What I saw that night, was that Lomachenko beat him to the punch,” Gonzalez noted of the lone loss of Russell’s career to date. “Gary tired out towards the end, and Lomachenko closed the strong. He was better than Gary Russell that night.

“I need to be better than Gary Russell on Saturday night.”

If so, it will go down as yet another upset (according to current betting odds, anyway) in a career filled with overcoming adversity. Enough memorable moments have been crammed into 16 years as a prizefighter to where Gonzalez struggles to favor a specific part.

“I cannot pick one. Fighting for and winning three world titles is something that has changed my life,” Gonzalez says. “Every fighter dreams of that.”

For most experts way back in the day, Gonzalez claiming of succeeding on the title stage seemed like wishful thinking. Once at a point with nothing but seemingly unreachable aspirations of a better future, Jhonny Gonzalez continues to find a way to live the dream.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox