Roman Gonzalez defeated Julio Cesar Martinez over 12 action packed, yet Gonzalez dominant rounds at The Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.
The DAZN event featured a few knockouts on the undercard, and the Gonzalez-Martinez fight capped off a wonderful night of boxing which ended with the crowd treated to a still quality Gonzalez keeping late replacement opponent Martinez at bay while showing that age still does not matter.
I’m thankful to God because he gave me another day with a victory,” Gonzalez said. “We still don’t know when I’m gonna retire. Maybe a few more fights. I came in really good condition for this fight. That’s why I’m here.”
With a career that began in 2005 and has spanned world championships in multiple divisions, Nicaragua’s Gonzalez, at one point the sports consensus No. 1 fighter, has fashioned a late-career resurgence since suffering a knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2017.
Since then, Gonzalez, (42-3, 28 KOs) has won and defended a super flyweight title and was set to face Juan Estrada for a third time before Estrada contracted the coronavirus, which gave Martinez the opportunity to move up in weight and face a legend of the flyweight division.
Martinez (18-2, 14 KOs), a champion in his division of flyweight, took the fight on late notice and put up a strong and spirited effort in the loss, not getting knocked down and also landing a fair amount of blows against Gonzalez.
Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn spoke well of Martinez’s effort.
“You gained so many fans from that (fight). People love spirit. They love heart, and he never quit,” Hearn said. “He came up (in weight). He looked too small, he looked too inexperienced, he looked not good enough to beat one of the greatest fighters of all time. Big respect to him for taking the fight but tonight was about one of the greatest to ever do it, Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez.”
