SAN DIEGO – Eddie Hearn has now served as the lead promoter for the past four fights involving Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and has yet to not walk away in awe of the all-time great.

The chairman of Matchroom Sport could not stop gushing over the latest performance delivered by Nicaragua’s Gonzalez, a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Julio Cesar ‘El Rey’ Martinez atop a March 5 DAZN show from Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. Gonzalez hadn’t fought in 51 weeks heading into the night but didn’t miss a beat in outclassing Martinez (18-2, 14KOs; 2ND), the reigning WBC flyweight titlist who moved up in weight.

“That was just an incredible performance from a pound-for-pound legend,” Hearn told BoxingScene.com after the fight. “Chocolatito seems to be getting better and better. Julio Cesar Martinez took this fight on six weeks’ notice. You saw the difference between a very good champion and a pound-for-pound legend.”

Gonzalez (51-3, 41KOs) was originally due to face longtime rival and reigning lineal/WBA “Super” 115-pound champion Juan Francisco ‘El Gallo’ Estrada (42-3, 28KOs) in the evening’s main event. Estrada tested positive for Covid in January, having to shut down training camp and withdraw from the rubber match, coming nearly a full year after winning a split decision in their March 13 unification fight that most felt should have gone to Gonzalez.

The rematch came more than eight years after and two divisions above their terrific first fight in November 2012, where Gonzalez won a well-earned decision in the final defense of his WBA junior flyweight title reign. He’d already served as a strawweight champion by that point, having since won the lineal/WBC flyweight crown and the WBC and WBA “Super” belts over two separate reigns at junior bantamweight, where he remains among the best fighters in one of the sport’s most loaded weight divisions.

Even at age 34 and approaching 17 full years—nearly half of his life—in the sport, Gonzalez remains a viable threat to become a three-time junior bantamweight champion no matter who he faces in the talent-heavy division. Trilogy bouts with Estrada or former two-time champ Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43KOs) await, as well as the possibility of a showdown with fellow four-division champion Kazuto Ioka (27-2, 15KOs, the reigning WBO titlist, and even newly crowned WBC titlist Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (15-0, 11KOs).

The aforementioned fighters will all likely next face one other in some shape or form, with Gonzalez to land somewhere in that mix.

Gonzalez has no preference, as long as it is elite level competition. While retirement isn’t yet a consideration, the day will likely soon come when we are forced to say goodbye to one of the sport’s best fighters of the twenty-first century.

“My bosses will decide what is next for me,” noted Gonzalez. “Whatever they decide, as long as it pays well. I still don’t know when I’ll retire, maybe three or four more fights.”

It only makes the job that much easier for Hearn and longtime manager Carlos Blandon.

“The Estrada trilogy was supposed to take place in this ring, that fight is always there,” notes Hearn. “[Estrada] has been called to fight Joshua Franco [the WBA “World” junior bantamweight titlist and Rodriguez’s older brother]. Jesse Rodriguez, our new superstar, has to fight Rungvisai. There’s so much activity, so many great fights for him between 108 and 115. But Chocolatito, that was just supply and demand (on Saturday). 

“You can see the Estrada trilogy, Jesse Rodriguez… we’ll sit down with him and figure out the best fight for him, whatever he wants.”

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