By Ryan Burton
LOS ANGELES - Fighting in front of raucous crowd of 6,714 at The Fabulous Forum on Saturday night, Consensus #1 Pound-for-Pound Fighter Roman "Chocolatito” Gonzalez, (46-0-0, 38KO’s) captured his fourth divisional world title with a unanimous decision over WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Carlos “Principe” Cuadras (35-1-1, 27KO’s) in a sure-fire “Fight of the Year” candidate telecast live on HBO World Championship Boxing. Scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.
In a fight that lived up to it’s billing and the strong legacy of historical fights at The Fabulous Forum, Gonzalez and Cuadras battled at an extraordinarily high pace amidst loud chants of “Nicaragua” and “Mexico” throughout the fight.
The 29-year-old Gonzalez displayed excellent skills featuring his legendary combination punching, consistent pressure throughout the fight and excellent accuracy against the taller and bigger Cuadras.
The Mexican also performed at a very high level, countering Gonzalez, displaying very strong movement and terrific hand speed.
Stated Gonzalez after the fight, “We both gave a good fight, this was the most difficult fight of my career. I’ve never fought at this weight before, but I felt I won the fight.”
“I wasn’t hurt to the body but I definitely felt the head blows.”
“With pleasure I would face Naoya Inoue.”
“Alexis Arguello will always be number one, he is my teacher and I am his son. This victory is for my family, for Nicaragua and for God.”
Said a disappointed Cuadras, “It was close but I think I won, he’s never been hit that much in his career, just look at his face.”
“He is relentless; he didn’t get tired all night. His defense was better than I expected. He was stopping my shots with his arms and coming right back with his own punches.”