What makes a champion? Talent, persistence, a strong mind.

Joet Gonzalez has carried those attributes into the ring for three featherweight world-title fights in the past six years – against Shakur Stevenson, Emanuel Navarrete and Luis Alberto Lopez.

Three times, the other man has won a unanimous decision, leaving Southern California’s Gonzalez 26-4 (15 KOs) to cope with the crushing aftermath that has sent so many others toward a career descent.

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light, the poet Dylan Thomas wrote.

That’s Gonzalez, 31, who has weathered those dispiriting defeats and lifted himself to fight on, as he does again Saturday night when he meets the WBO’s No. 2-rated featherweight contender Arnold Khegai 22-1-1 (14 KOs) in the main event of ProBox TV’s card at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California.

“People might not understand how many fighters – up-and-coming prospects, contenders – lose before even getting a title shot, and they're gone,” Gonzalez said. “Whether it’s their own doubts, or they can't take the heat from the social media, the criticism from the writers and the public … .

“I've taken everything on the chin, I’ve licked my wounds, dusted myself off, and I’m back in there.”

If ever there was a time to move on for Gonzalez, it was following his most recent bout, the IBF title loss to Lopez by scores of 116-112, 118-110, 117-111 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Not only did it mark the end of Gonzalez’s time with promoter Top Rank, he found out soon after that his gym in La Verne, California, was closing, leaving him to function as sort of a vagabond when it came to maintaining his routine of remaining in fighting shape under the watchful eye of his father-trainer, Jose Gonzalez.

“If you want it, and if there's a will, there's a way,” Gonzalez said. “So we train at other gyms, do our sparring at another gym. My dad even personally made me some covered heavy bags through construction in the backyard for the days when it’s raining or when I don’t know when I can make it to the gym.

“Through the years, I got to build relationships with people, and they've offered their gyms for me to go down the street when I’m not using my home gym in Azusa [California]. It’s nice to know that I'm welcome at these places, like the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, where the doors are always open to me. I guess it’s because they respect my character and my will.

“I’m still hungry.”

Gonzalez was unbeaten in 2019 when he landed his first title crack at the 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Stevenson, who won his first title that night in Reno, Nevada, after flaunting the fact he was dating Gonzalez’s sister.

One victory later, a COVID-era triumph over former title challenger Miguel Marriaga, Gonzalez was pitted against the destructive three-division champion Navarrete and battled through a second-round eye cut to win four of the eight rounds on two scorecards.

“I know some people were kind of tired that I was getting another chance to fight for a title, but I earned those shots because I was taking the fights nobody wanted to take, obviously,” Gonzalez said, in reference to unbeaten, now-three-division champion Stevenson and three-division and still-reigning super-featherweight champion Navarrete.

The loss to Lopez hit hardest.

When asked to explain the pain of losing a third title shot after willing himself back from the other setbacks, Gonzalez paused, briefly overcome by the past trauma

“It's extremely tough, extremely disappointing,” he said. “I work so hard so … it's just the hardest pill to swallow, mostly because you feel like you’ve done everything so well, so right. The training, the sparring. And then when you don't get the result, it's really tough.

“To the point that, even now, I'm emotional because … I'm not here just for the money.

“This has been my dream since I was a little kid. I knew what I wanted to do with my life since I was 10 years old. I'm still here. I'm still doing it. So, yeah it's beyond tough. I’ve just gotta move forward, raise myself right back up. I got my family to fight for – my parents – and I’m determined to show the people again that I'm not here to take easy fights. I’ll never baby my career. I’ve always gone against the best because I feel like I can compete with the best.”

Ukraine’s Khegai is also ranked among the top-15 featherweights by the WBC and IBF. His only loss is to newly crowned WBC featherweight champion Stephen Fulton, and the 32-year-old has won six consecutive fights.

Gonzalez is operating on a one-fight deal with ProBox. 

Both he and Khegai are shrewd enough to understand that a victory propels them closer toward IBF champion Angelo Leo, a ProBox fighter.

“I’m coming to win,” Gonzalez said. “I knew I had to improve and change some things in order to get better and get these wins in these tough matches. I have the same hunger and joy, I’m willing to put everything on the line. My main goal is to leave Saturday with the victory, and it doesn’t matter whether it's me boxing, brawling or getting the knockout. As long as I get the win, that's all that matters.”

It would be sweet music to Gonzalez’s ears to have people wonder how he can land a fourth title shot. Better yet, he longs to realize that dream he’s maintained of winning a belt.

“That's just my goal – to be a world champion – and I'm not gonna stop until Father Time forces me to,” Gonzalez said. “I still feel good, still young, still hanging in with these young kids that are coming up and asking me for advice.

“I'm gonna do this until my body says no more because this is what I want to do.”