Roman Gonzalez was the kingpin of the light flyweight division for four years and before that he ruled the strawweight or minimum weight division for two more,
He just won the WBC flyweight title over the lineal champion Akira Yaegashi by a knockout for his third division title and he has won 40 fights without a defeat with 34 of those ending via a stoppage.
Gonzalez even defeated the WBA champion at Flyweight,Juan Francisco Estrada two years ago in a defense of his light fly belt,so he has established himself as the true flyweight champ in a suddenly exciting division.
All three major belts will be on the line in the course of a week with Gonzalez winning his belt Friday,Estrada defending his with a win over Giovanni Segura and Ruenroeng defending his IBF belt against McWilliams Arroyo later this week,the eyes of many in boxing are on the flyweights.
Between Gonzalez,Estrada (with wins over Brian Viloria and Segura),Viloria,Segura,Yaegashi,Zou Shiming,IBF champ Ruenroeng,Arroyo and more,the 112 pound division has quality depth with exciting fights to be made up and down the division for the first time that I can remember in many,many years.
So what's the problem?
No one knows about Roman Gonzalez outside of the hardcore boxing crowd and that's a shame.
Gonzalez knocks people out with a fierce left hook,he comes forward,yet isn't reckless and he is very skillful,but has only appeared on American (English speaking) television once.
I would think that Gonzalez would have some appeal to Top Rank with his skills and that the company has done business with many of the mentioned flyweights above including WBA champ Estrada that would make it easy to build excitement in China with their much ballyhooed and promoted Zou Shiming.
Shiming would be meat on Gonzalez's platter right now,but beginning to feature Gonzalez now and even Estrada as well makes sense to me.
Trying to get Shiming a belt may be tougher than expected,so why not make as much as possible for a shot at Gonzalez?
A HBO Boxing after Dark with defenses by Gonzalez and Estrada could be an appetizer for a Gonzalez-Estrada unification bout which makes even more sense since Estrada was the only fighter to even give Gonzalez a run for his money in their first bout.
ESPN has been investing a little money in boxing of late,maybe they could be convinced,especially when you consider the money that the flyweights make would make those bouts very cost friendly for the network,
Most of the fights involving the flyweights could be easy to make except for maybe if McWilliams Arroyo would win his fight this week as Arroyo is with Golden Boy and it would build interest internationally for an eventual Shiming title fight.
Until then,Roman Gonzalez will continue to be the best kept secret in boxing and the best fighter that most have never heard of.
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