Greatness shouldn’t be straightforward. It isn’t presupposed to be swinging a useless cat and hitting the broad aspect of a barn whereas falling away from bed. Excellence is supposed to be cast on an anvil of sacrifice, hammered into being by blood-sweat-and-tears brute power. It needs to be the painstaking course of of remodeling bone into metal and folding hesitation and doubt in on itself 1,000 instances to create a weapon of mastery that’s, on the identical time, a transcendent murals.
However goddamn all of it if Roman Gonzalez doesn’t make greatness look straightforward.
The little man from Managua, who quietly summited Mount Olympus whereas on the peak of his athletic powers, adopted a latest fall from grace — the hallmark of any nice hero — by returning to boxing’s pinnacle at an age when most fighters his weight are packing it in. On Saturday, the 34-year-old Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KO) winked on the gods as soon as extra, taking aside a first-rate tremendous flyweight menace in Julio Cesar Martinez (18-2, 14 KO) for a large unanimous determination win in San Diego.
Ever since his back-to-back losses to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2017, together with a knockout end that might have simply as simply punctuated a Corridor of Fame profession, Gonzalez has been defying the percentages — and making it look, nicely, straightforward. Nicaragua’s biggest boxing export (sure, even Alexis Arguello would agree) deserves each ounce of well-earned glory, particularly after working in near-obscurity for therefore lengthy. Finally, although, Gonzalez could by no means be totally appreciated for his artwork just because his stage of craft is unimaginable to completely quantify.
Years in the past, the nationwide information briefly made a stink out of a painter who would drag his supplies onto an airport tarmac, then throw buckets of coloration within the air to be blown throughout a canvas by a whirring aircraft propeller. It was arduous to know whether or not he was the Van Gogh of our fashionable instances or simply crazier than a shithouse rat. Gonzalez may fit in a far much less subjective medium, however at the same time as he splatters blood and guts throughout a distinct canvas, his brilliance tends to be neglected by all however the cognoscenti.
It gave the impression to be extra of the identical in opposition to Martinez, who many believed had greater than only a combating likelihood in opposition to Gonzalez on Saturday. Though Martinez, 27, was shifting up in weight and had taken the struggle on six weeks’ discover as a substitute for Juan Francisco Estrada (whose COVID analysis pressured him out), he was the youthful and heavier man in opposition to Gonzalez. He confirmed heavy one-punch energy, a cobalt chin and truckloads of braveness — and so they even earned him 4 rounds on one of many judges’ scorecards.
Whether or not it was out of pity for the Mexican, an absence of respect for the Nicaraguan’s work or in line with boxing’s grand custom of rank stupidity, the 116-112 card on no account mirrored the extent of dominance Gonzalez exhibited in opposition to Martinez. Though scores of 118-110 and 117-111 had been at the least inside the realm of risk, most observers of sound physique and thoughts inside the partitions of San Diego’s Pechanga Area or watching on the DAZN feed might discover just one spherical for Martinez — the first, which Gonzalez appeared to deal with as a mulligan whereas he discovered his stroke.
By spherical 2, the previous (younger?) Chocolatito had entered the constructing. He landed a clear left hook round Martinez’s guard, seeing-eye uppercuts that break up the Mexican’s gloves and despatched the vast majority of return fireplace whizzing by or glancing harmlessly off his elbows and shoulders. Gonzalez chopping wooden in spherical 3, touchdown from all angles round and thru his opponent’s unfastened guard. Martinez, after one good sequence, mustered some noticeable swagger. He simply wanted extra time to study the type of hassle he was in.
Every time Martinez would preen or pause, and even dare expertise a second of success, Gonzalez would merely smother him with genius. Chocolatito is maybe the world’s biggest lively in-fighter, and his knack for hitting with out being hit from shut vary isn’t simply uncanny — it may be totally demoralizing for an opponent. Credit score to Martinez that, though visibly pissed off, he by no means gave up. He simply gave out.
By spherical 6, Gonzalez was touchdown combos virtually at will, altering tempo and angles whereas unloading heaps upon heaps of punches. Martinez, who noticed his large punches develop wider and his lack of curiosity in a counterattack dulled even additional because the struggle wore on, absorbed an enormous proper hook from Gonzalez earlier than returning to his stool after the spherical. After his nook requested how he felt, the Mexican didn’t hesitate to reply: “I’m drained.”
Gonzalez continued to press, reduce off the ring and stalk Martinez with superior footwork. Martinez stored winging away, and even modified stances a number of instances, however to little impact. His final gasp was letting unfastened a stable mixture within the first minute of spherical 11, which he then paid for dearly together with his face on a clear proper hook from Gonzalez. Exhausted and bouncing heavy off the ropes, Martinez gave the impression to be expending all his power on merely preserving his ft and avoiding the worst injury. When he returned once more to his stool between rounds, this time telling his nook “I really feel nice,” it was clear he was toast.
Gonzalez closed the present in unimaginable style — with energy pictures on 244 of his closing 249 landed punches, based on Dan Canobbio of CompuBox. Chocolatito doubled Martinez’s landed punch depend (374-182) and managed to restrict his opponent to 34 energy punches landed over a 12-round struggle.
Hit. Don’t get hit. Gonzalez’s artwork, for all its attractive subtlety and shrouded virtuosity, can nonetheless be distilled to boxing’s fundamentals. Even whereas making little one’s play of bloodsport, nobody does it higher.
(Roman Gonzalez, left, Julio Cesar Chavez, proper; Picture by Ed Mulholland for Matchroom Boxing)
