SAN DIEGO - Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez continues to prove there is plenty of fight left in his already storied career.

The final chapter, however, will likely not include an attempt to conquer a fifth weight division.

Nicaragua’s Gonzalez positioned himself for a number of potential opportunities following a 12-round unanimous decision win over Julio Cesar Martinez. The March 5 DAZN main event saw Gonzalez (51-3, 41KOs)–a former four-division champion–deliver a tour-de-force performance at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, leaving him in direct path of a shot at becoming a three-time junior bantamweight titlist.

It is where Gonzalez will spend the rest of his career, having reconsidered previously speculated plans of perhaps one day winning a belt at bantamweight.

“I’m not interested in moving up or down anymore,” Gonzalez told BoxingScene.com. “I’m going to stay at 115. Three or four more fights, whatever it takes to win another championship and beat the guys in my division they say I need to beat.”

Unfortunately for boxing junkies, that puts to rest any consideration of a pound-for-pound showdown with three-division and reigning WBA/IBF bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue. The good news, though, is that there exists plenty of other lucrative and mouthwatering options for the modern-day boxing legend.

Gonzalez was originally due to face longtime rival and lineal/WBA junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (42-3, 28KOs) in their long awaited rubber match. Estrada - who claimed a highly questionable split decision win in their sensational rematch last March 13 - was forced to withdraw after testing positive for Covid.

Estrada was replaced by Martinez (18-2, 14KOs; 2ND), who put his WBC flyweight title reign on hold to move up for the fight on six weeks’ notice.

Gonzalez would love to move forward with the trilogy, though Estrada is currently committed to a title consolidation clash with WBA ‘World’ titlist Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8KOs). 

Recently crowned WBC titlist Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (15-0, 10KOs) - Franco’s younger brother - was another option floated by promoter Eddie Hearn, though he is required to face mandatory challenger and former two-time WBC champ Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. That fight will likely come into play if Rodriguez remains at the weight in lieu of returning to Junior flyweight, where he previously sought a title before agreeing on six days’ notice to replace an ill Sor Rungvisai versus Carlos Cuadras last February 5 in Phoenix.

Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43KOs) owns two wins over Gonzalez, both coming in 2017 and ending Gonzalez’s first junior bantamweight title reign and his status as the sport’s pound-for-pound king. The chance to avenge those losses remains in consideration, more so if a title is made available - though more importantly at this stage of Gonzalez’s career, also for the right place.

“There are a lot of options, a lot of names that have been mentioned,” notes Gonzalez. “I will fight anyone at this weight, just whatever pays the best.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox