Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez & Carlos Cuadras Give Boxing Fans a War

By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña (At Ringside)
Photos by Cynthia “Cindy Lou” Saldaña (At Ringside)

Saturday night at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California, the Spanish music blared throughout the wild crowd as Banda La Maravillosa kept them pumped up. It was a festive, soccer stadium atmosphere and fans packed the Forum for a chance to witness the consensus #1 pound for pound fighter in the world and WBC Flyweight World Champion, undefeated Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, 45-0, 38 KO’s from Managua, Nicaragua, to do something his mentor, friend and former trainer Alexis Arguello was never able to accomplish, become a four division world champion as he battled the WBC Super Flyweight Champion, the undefeated Carlos “Principe” Cuadras, 35-0-1, 27 KO’s from Guamuchil, Sinaloa.

Gonzalez came out like a man possessed in the first three rounds landing shots with pin point accuracy hitting Cuadras with three, four, and five shots at a time. Cuadras who was landing hard punches of his own, was never able to slow Gonzalez down, as Cuadras tried furiously to answer to the barrage of punches Chocolatito was hitting him with. Round four had both fighters landing flush shots with Cuadras landing a solid jab to face of Gonzalez. Gonzalez went back to corner with what appeared to be a mouse developing under his eye. Then in round five, a round that could possibly be round of the year, had Cuadras beginning to land his own heavy combinations as he outscored Gonzalez who seemed to have let his foot slightly off the gas pedal.

The middle rounds brought heavy action in an all war and gave the crowd of 6,714 and boxing fans watching on HBO a possible “Fight of the Year.” After 12 thrilling rounds, the ring experience and ring generalship of Gonzalez proved to be just enough as the judges scored the toe-to-toe battle 117-111 (Cathy Leonard), 116-112 (Max DeLuca), 115-113 (Robert Hecko) for Gonzalez, moving Chocolatito to, 44-0, 37 KO’s. Cuadras is now 35-1-1, 27 KO’s. After the fight Gonzalez stated “I will never be better than Arguello, he is the teacher and I am his son. He will always be No. 1.” Cuadras said after the fight “Gonzalez is relentless. He just won’t stop. He never gets tired all night long. I felt I did enough to win the fight. I’m sure he’s never been hit like I hit him, but you have to respect him. He kept coming, and his defense was better than expected. He stopped shots with his arms and threw punches with those same arms.” Punch stats showed Gonzalez landed 322 of 983 while Cuadras hit Gonzalez 257 times and threw 889 punches. Power punches were 295-212 in Gonzalez’s favor.

In the Co-main event fans were treated to a rematch between Yoshihiro “El Maestrito” Kamegai, 26-3-2, 23 KO’s as he took on Jesus “Renuente” Soto Karass, 28-10-4, 18 KO’s from Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

Their first meeting, ended in a split draw and left the crowd in a frenzy at the Belasco Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. From the opening bell, it was like round 13 for these two fighters as they each started where they left off. Hellacious body shots, heavy shots to the head and a barrage of punches were thrown by both men in the center of the ring as the first three rounds of boxing were non-stop with Kamegai staying one step ahead of Soto Karass who looked a little sluggish. The middle rounds brought plenty of action, with Soto Karass landing some hard shots on the face of Kamegai, but never really seemed to find his rhythm. The 8th round had Kamegai landing a solid uppercut hurting Soto Karass, and eventually after several hard shots Soto Karass hit the canvas. The bout was called to a halt by referee Jack Reiss after the 8th round with Soto Karass unable to continue. Kamegai hit Soto Karass with everything he threw landing 50% of his total punches 325 of 653 and 55% of his power shots 293 of 529. Soto Karass who told me after the fight he’s considering retirement landed 34% of his total punches 237 of 704 and 39% of his power shots 200 of 507 in a fight that had both boxers showing little to no defense.

Other Bouts Include:

Ryan Martin, 15-0, 9 KO’s Vs Fermin De Los Santos, 25-15-2, 18 KO’s (8 Rounds) Lightweight for the WBC Continental Championship, Result: Martin wins by unanimous decision.
Seniesa “Super Bad” Estrada, 7-0, 1 KO Vs Nancy Franco, 14-9-2, 4 KO’s (8 Round) Flyweight, Results: Seniesa Estrada by unanimous decision.
Carlos Licona, 7-0, 3 KO’s Vs Gilberto Mendoza, 5-5, 2 KO’s (6 Round) Lightweight, Results: Cancelled
Chazz Moleta (Debut) Vs Brahmabigi Montgomery, 1-1-1 (4 Round) Lightweight, Results: Montgomery by 2nd round KO.

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