By Jake Donovan

It’s been two years since Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has held a major title around his waist and the former pound-for-pound king clearly is eager to reclaim old glory.

The 31-year old former four-division champ is reportedly in talks for a showdown with unbeaten reigning 115-pound titlist Khalid Yafai.

Should a deal be reached, such a fight would take place on June 23 in Yafai’s native England, live on DAZN and Sky Sports.

“[Teiken Promotions head] Akihiko Honda and Carlos Blandón (Gonzalez’s manager) have been in contact (with Yafai’s team) for that fight,” Gonzalez recently revealed to local media in his native Nicaragua.

La Prensa, a major news publication in Nicaragua was the first to report the development.

Interestingly, Yafai (25-0, 15KOs) began his 115-pound title reign not too soon after Gonzalez became a four-division champ. Three months after Gonzalez unseated previously unbeaten Carlos Cuadras, Yafai managed a 12-round win over former flyweight champ Luis Concepcion in their Dec. ’16 vacant title fight.

Four successful defenses come, although Yafai’s last outing left a lot to be desired. The 29-year old from Birmingham, England was considered fortunate by many observers to have escaped with his title still intact following a disputed split decision win over unheralded Israel Gonzalez last November in Monaco.

At best, Yafai deserved the nod albeit in perhaps the most disappointing performance of his six-plus year career to date.

Still, it’s better than what Gonzalez (47-2, 39KOs) has managed in recent years.

At one point regarded as the best boxer in the world, Gonzalez—who’d dominated at strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight—was poised for superstardom after emerging as a breakout star on HBO, who openly embraced the diminutively-sized super talent in what turned out to be its final years in the sport.

A move up to a fourth weight class perhaps proved to be a bit too much for Nicaragua’s most talented product since the late Alexis Arguello.

Six months after edging Cuadras, Gonzalez landed on the wrong end of a controversial decision at the hands of Thailand’s Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Not helping matters was his suffering the first knockdown of his career, coming in the opening round of their March ’17 HBO Pay-Per-View televised co-feature attraction at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Efforts to right the ship in a rematch went horribly awry, with Gonzalez suffering a one-sided 4th round knockout later that September. A full year would pass before his ring return, with visa issues forcing him out of a planned comeback fight last May.

Gonzalez’ lone fight of 2018 came last September, scoring a 1st round knockout of overmatched Mauricio Fuentes.

There were plans to squeeze in another fight on the year, which was to come on HBO’s last-ever boxing telecast before exiting the sport after a 45-year run. Their show went Chocolatito-less, however, as Gonzalez suffered an injury which forced him to withdraw from a scheduled clash versus former 108-pound titlist Pedro Guevara, the original opponent for his canceled fight in May as well.

Despite just one round of ring action since back-to-back losses, the preference for 2019 is to cut right to the chase.

"I'm willing to fight (Yafai) in England,” insists Gonzalez, who has never before fought anywhere in the United Kingdom. “There will be no more (tune-up fights), it will be one for the title.

“The fight against Yafai will not be easy because he moves well and throws combinations well. We will have to train hard to bring that championship (home).”