By Elisinio Castillo
Nicaragua's Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez is still shocked that he suffered the first defeat of his pro career last Saturday night at New York's Madison Square Garden, when he lost a twelve round majority decision to mandatory challenger Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand.
Heading into the fight, Gonzalez was considered by many experts to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and was a heavy favourite going into the contest.
After several head clashes, Gonzalez suffered a couple of cuts over his right eye which bleed profusely throughout much of the fight and hampered his vision.
Gonzalez dropped to 46-1, 38 KOs - and he was shocked to have suffered his first loss. He went down in the first round, which was only the second time he had tasted the canvas. The scores were 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113.
As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Gonzalez arrived back home and received a hero's welcome.
"It was a very tough fight, a difficult fight, but thank God we came out well. I had a cut on the eyebrow and one on the head," Gonzalez said. "It was a difficult fight and God knows how things are."
"I did a good job, I was in the best physical condition, I fought the entire twelve rounds bleeding and it was a difficult fight, but thank God everything went well and here we are. It was a great fight, most of the punches I threw I was able to connect... but well, that's the sport. I'm going to get some rest ... we have no problem (if we do not get the rematch). "I am happy to be back in my country. I was not happy with the ruling, I know it was a difficult fight but I never imagined that I would lose."
Among his immediate plans, Chocolatito is hoping to rest for a month and then he plans to travel to Japan to speak with his promoter Mr. Honda of Teiken Promotions "to see what happens."
