Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez seeks a true homecoming for his next title defense.

BoxingScene.com has confirmed that a formal request has been submitted on behalf of the reigning WBO junior flyweight titlist to appear on a planned October show in the Isla Verde section of Carolina, Puerto Rico. The event will take place as part of the annual WBO convention, which takes place October 24-28 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel and traditionally includes its ‘WBO Night of Champions’ boxing event during the week.

The request comes just two weeks after Gonzalez (26-3-1, 14KOs) made the first successful defense of his title. Gonzalez outpointed Philippines’ Mark Anthony Barriga over twelve rounds in their June 25 ProBox TV main event from Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. The 31-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw—born in The Bronx but who now hails from Caguas—played the Boricua-friendly, Central Florida venue for the fourth time but now aims to truly head home.

All Star Boxing, Inc.—Gonzalez’s promoter—hopes for a voluntary title request to be approved by the WBO, with the promise to commit to any subsequent ruling made by the sanctioning body. The request comes as Philippines’ Mark Vicelles (17-0-1, 10KOs) was recently installed as the number-one contender in the most recent WBO rankings.

However, the unbeaten Filipino southpaw is not yet named the mandatory challenger. The distinction should provide Gonzalez with enough wiggle room to face any ranked contender of his choosing for what would be his first fight in Puerto Rico since March 2017. Eight of his nine fights in that span have taken place stateside, along with an August 2019 trip to Nagoya, Japan in a competitive but ultimately conclusive seventh-round knockout defeat to then-unbeaten three-division and reigning WBO flyweight titlist Kosei Tanaka.

Gonzalez has since won four straight, including a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Mexicali’s Elwin Soto to win the WBO junior flyweight title last October.

Should the WBO approve Gonzalez’s request, it will mark his first-ever major title fight on Puerto Rican soil. It will also mark the first major title fight involving any fighter to take place in Puerto Rico in more than a year.

The previous such occasion came last March 25, when Carolina-born, Brooklyn-bred seven-division champ Amanda Serrano defended her WBC/WBO featherweight titles in a ninth-round knockout of three-division titlist Daniela Bermudez. The NBC Sports Network-televised event took place at Plaza del Quinto Centenario in historic Old San Juan, with crowd participation limited to onlookers who were permitted to watch from behind barricades at a time when social distancing was still being practiced due to the global health crisis.

The last major title fight in Puerto Rico to be staged in front of a paying crowd came in October 2019, three years to the day of the upcoming WBO Night of Champions event. Wilfredo ‘Bimbito’ Mendez made the first defense of his WBO strawweight title in a seven-round, technical decision win over Alex Aragon Vega, adding one more title defense before losing his belt to Masataka Taniguchi last December in Tokyo.

Gonzalez and Serrano represent Puerto Rico’s only two active major titlists.  

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox