Chocolatito Moving On Up?

The WBC flyweight champion and #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (45-0) is apparently set to move from the 112 pound flyweight category to the 115 pound super flyweight division for his next outing, scheduled for September.

The WBC is looking to match him with their current super flyweight champion, Mexico’s undefeated Carlos Cuadras (35-0-1).

The move up in weight class for the 28-year-old pound-for-pound king comes as a bit of a surprise, as he and his camp talked adamantly about not being rushed to move up in the build-up to his last fight against McWilliams Arroyo. In the build-up to the fight with Arroyo, which took place April 23rd at the Forum in Inglewood, California, “Chocolatito” was in negotiations for a rematch with rival Juan Francisco Estrada, whom he defeated at 108 pounds (light flyweight) back in November of 2012. Estrada has lobbied heavily for the return bout ever since, and he followed Gonzalez moving up in weight class.

The bout will be Cuadras’ seventh defense of his WBC super flyweight title. Cuadras last fought on April 23rd, in Los Mochis, Mexico where he defeated Richie Mepranum in his sixth successful world title defense. On paper, Cuadras will have advantages of a couple of inches in both height and reach and he has fought as a bantamweight on a handful of occasions throughout his 36 fight pro career.

Cuadras is known as a heavy hitter, and his resume includes successful title defenses in Japan and the United States. Cuadras is a relative unknown in the United States, however, having never appeared on a major card in the U.S. That figures to change here, as Gonzalez is signed to HBO and the cable giant has been investing in pairing Gonzalez on the same bill with middleweight kingpin Gennady Golovkin for their last several outings.

Though the fight is compelling, the match will likely be in support of another main event featuring Golovkin. Who Golovkin fights will likely determine whether HBO offers this on their normal channel or as a pay-per-view.

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