Roman Gonzalez Was Once Offered Khalid Yafai Fight, Manager Talks Gonzalez’s 2018 Plans
Carlos Blandon, manager for Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, revealed the former world champion has received world title fight offers, but the fighter declined those fights.
Blandon spoke to Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa and revealed he had received offers for Gonzalez to make his return on HBO’s upcoming “Superfly 2” card on February 24. Gonzalez has lost his last two fights, both of which were WBC super flyweight title bouts against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
“We received two strong offers: A title fight for ‘Superfly 2’ and another for April, both of which we rejected because it’s not what we want. We were offered (WBA super flyweight champion) Khalid Yafai as well as a third fight against Sor Rungvisai. If down the line we still have those fights, we could explore those options, but not now. We want Roman to retire as we have dreamt it: as champion,” Blandon said.
Yafai had told Fightful last year that he wanted to fight Gonzalez had he won the WBC title against Sor Rungvisai last September. Although it’s questionable that Yafai vs. Gonzalez takes place on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2 card on May 5, Blandon did say the plan is for Gonzalez to return in May on that card although nothing has been signed off yet. As for who Gonzalez could face in his return fight, Blandon declined to name any boxers, but preferred if the fight would be against a highly-ranked fighter.
“If I give you a name, everyone will say that will be (Gonzalez’s) opponent. But to give you an idea, I’m referring to someone in the top five rankings at 115 pounds,” Blandon said.
As for Gonzalez’s fight plans for 2018 and 2019, the idea is to have the former world champion fight two 10-round fights in 2018 before fighting for a world title in 2019.
