SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – After handing Yankiel Rivera his first career defeat, Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez wanted to send the boxing world the message that he is nobody’s stepping stone.

The former WBO junior flyweight titleholder Gonzalez showed he still had a lot left in the tank at the age of 34, defeating Rivera, a 2020 Puerto Rican Olympian, by unanimous decision here at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan.

Gonzalez counterpunched effectively against the overly aggressive 28-year-old Rivera, who was fighting for the WBA interim flyweight title for the second straight fight. Gonzalez’s experience edge showed throughout as he landed the cleaner, more effective blows, hurting Rivera multiple times despite being less active.

“I don't want to undermine him because he's a tremendous champion,” Gonzalez, now 29-4-1 (14 KOs), said of Rivera.” I'm gonna just say, these Olympians, you should not jump stages. Let them be. Let them go through the fighters that put them to their limit.

“I took the young kid to deep waters and he drowned alone. I didn't have to do nothing. I just used my jab, used my defense and try to hit him and move. And he drowned alone.”

Gonzalez, who says he used the AI tool ChatGPT to manage his weight and nutrition for this fight, watched another fight between two southpaws – Shakur Stevenson versus William Zepeda – to come up with his game plan for this fight, utilizing a shoulder roll to blunt his opponent’s aggression.

Gonzalez says it was important for his pride and legacy to earn the victory, considering how poorly his last outing went. Gonzalez was fighting for the first time since October 2024, when he was stopped in the first round of his WBO flyweight title challenge of Anthony Olascuaga. The fight was stopped near the end of the first round when referee Robert Hoyle interpreted that Gonzalez was quitting after he suffered a cut caused by an accidental headbutt.

Gonzalez disputes that he intended to quit in that fight, and he would like another fight with Olascuaga or WBC/WBA titleholder Ricardo Sandoval.

“Everyone said I surrendered the fight – I didn’t surrender nothing,” Gonzalez said. “First thing, if you go to YouTube and you see the fight, my body language was, I wanted to fight. I didn't do this. I didn't say no. I was always positioned to fight.

“Sandoval, Olascuaga, bring them. In this condition, in this moment, how I fight today, no 112 can beat me. No one.”

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.