Kal Yafai will be defending his WBA super-flyweight title against legendary former champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, this Saturday night in Frisco, Texas.
Throughout the past couple of years, the Birmingham-born fighter has made several successful defences of the title he captured in December 2016, with a comfortable points triumph over Panamanian Luis Concepcion, and currently carries an undefeated record of 26-0 with fifteen knockouts.
Gonzalez is a multiple-weight World champion and once occupied the top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings, having amassed an outstanding record of 46-0, before he was bested twice by Thai puncher Srikaset Sor Rungvisai.
Therefore, it is fair to say that Yafai’s decision to face Nicaraguan represents something of a calculated gamble, with the opportunity to claim a significant scalp superseding the risk of succumbing to Gonzalez’s ring craft and combination punching skills.
However, the nature of Gonzalez’s defeats to Rungvisai – especially the second one – led some to speculate that the super-flyweight division was simply to a jump too high for the former pound-for-pound king.
Indeed, as the naturally bigger and stronger man. Yafai will be hopeful that he will have enough to retain his belt but ultimately we can expect him to be outclassed and unanimously outpointed by the Nicaraguan, who will have too much quality for Yafai on the night.
Article by: Navi Singh
Follow Navi on Twitter at: @DarkMan________