'Chocolatito' packs big power in a small package
LOS ANGELES - The smallest man slated to fight on HBO in almost 20 years sits quietly in his seventh-floor hotel room, pausing intermittently to take a sip from his Everlast water bottle or spit into a large bucket at his bedside.
He just finished a hard treadmill session draped in a sauna suit - he never trains without it - and is two days away from perhaps the biggest moment of his life.
You wouldn't know it by looking at his diminutive frame, but Roman Gonzalez is one of the baddest men on the planet. The WBC flyweight champion is so good that he's forced HBO to reconsider its view on the smaller weight classes, and his bout Saturday against Edgar Sosa marks the network's first foray into televising a fight at 112 pounds or below since 1997.
Saturday's date at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., might signal America's introduction to Chocolatito Gonzalez (42-0, 36 KOs), but he's been a player on the world stage for some time, especially in his native land.
"He's a huge star in Nicaragua, the No. 1 athlete in my country," said Levi Luna of Channel 8 in Nicaragua, a reporter who has covered Gonzalez's entire career. "He's like a hero in my country, like a phenomenon. … He would sign 100 autographs in the street if the people want, that makes him popular. He came from a poor place, but he continues to be humble to the people."
The 28-year-old's origins are modest to say the least. Too poor to purchase boxing mitts, Gonzalez used electrical gloves for protection in street fights around his neighborhood of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. His first heavy bag? A milk bag filled with soil that dangled from a walnut tree.
When he wasn't engaging in scraps, Gonzalez traveled door to door with his father, and current trainer, Luis, pedaling insecticides, pesticides and detergents. Eventually, Luis took his son to a boxing gym at age 12, and Roman began to win amateur tournament after amateur tournament, taking home the grand prize: a gift basket with basic grains, food for his family.
Boxing legend and fellow countryman Alexis Arguello discovered Gonzalez when he was 14 years old and took a liking to him. He began supervising the pupil, and when he realized how much talent was in those small hands, Arguello trained him full time.
The Hall of Famer eventually bestowed the nickname "Chocolatito" to Gonzalez. Roman is one of many fighting Gonzalezes, who all went by "Chocolate" due to their skin complexion, so as the youngest competing member of the clan, he was referred to as "Little Chocolate" from that day on.
Arguello coached him to his first world title, a TKO of Yutaka Niida in a 2008 minimumweight bout, but Gonzalez would have to fight on without him. His hero and mentor died from a gunshot wound in 2009, a reported suicide. Arguello was only six months into his role as mayor of Managua, and many Nicaraguans believe there was foul play involved. Six years later, though, there is no closure.
The national hero won titles in three weight classes but came up short in an attempt for a fourth when he fell to Aaron Pryor in their classic bout. Gonzalez has already matched Arguello, and has his eyes set on accomplishing a feat no other boxer from his country has been able to do.
"It would definitely be a very happy feat for me to be able to get a fourth or fifth championship," Gonzalez told Paste BN Sports through his manager Carlos Javier Blandon Vidaurre. "I would love to give Nicaragua another world title but for now and forever, Alexis Arguello will always be No. 1. I can win five, six championships, but Arguello will always be No. 1."
Gonzalez has already won titles at 105 pounds, 108 and 112. He stands 5-foot-3 but with his generational skills believes titles are possible up to 126 pounds. For now, though, Gonzalez hopes a big performance in his HBO debut won't just help himself.
"I believe and I asked God that HBO doesn't just give me the opportunity," Gonzalez said, "but gives other boxers of my weight class the opportunity to be able to fight on such a prestigious and big platform like HBO."
If all goes according to plan, Gonzalez will not only be the smallest man on the mythical pound-for-pound list. He'll be a pioneer.