Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez Vacates Flyweight Belt
Boxing pound-for-pound Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez has decided to vacate his flyweight world title, and will remain the WBC Junior Bantamweight Champion.
Gonzalez's manager, Carlos Blandon, told ESPN.com that he wanted the flyweight championship, but wanted to give another fighter a chance to become a world champion at the weight.
"He treasures this (flyweight) title very much, but is excited another boxer with his same dream will have a chance to become a WBC world champion and that feeling overwhelms him," Blandon said.
Gonzalez won the junior bantamweight title a few weeks ago when he defeated Carlos Cuadras, and had been debating whether or not he would stay at junior bantamweight or move back to flyweight.
Now that there is a vacancy for the WBC flyweight title, the organization has ordered its two top-rated contenders to fight, in Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai and Juan "Churritos" Hernandez Navarrete. If their camps do not make a deal for the fight, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced that a purse bid would be scheduled to take place on October 21 at the offices of the sanctioning organization in Mexico City.
Sor Rungvisai will be fighting for a world title for the first time in his career, while Hernandez Navarrete has won 15 fights in a row. Navarrate last fought Kazuto Ioka to a unanimous decision loss for a strawweight world title in August 2011 in Tokyo.
Gonzalez is a four-division champion and previously held the WBC, The Ring magazine, and lineal flyweight titles. He was also a former minimumweight (a.k.a. strawweight) and former light flyweight champion.
