FANS of the sweet science, this brutal art form, celebrated when their favourite little man once again lit up the sport.

The excellent Nicaraguan Roman Gonzalez swept through WBA super-flyweight champion Khalid Yafai in Texas, stopping the game Birmingham man in round nine.

It had been one-sided.

“He surprised me but I was prepared to go,” said Gonzalez. “He moves a lot but he stayed there for me.” 

It seemed like Yafai hoped to burn the older man out, getting stuck in early, making Gonzalez fight hard with the possibly of him wilting down the stretch.

It was a bold move but a serious gamble.

At 32, with more than 50 pro fights under his belt, it was about timing.

Little men, four-time champions, do not often have much left beyond the age of 30.

Conversely, Yafai was the champion, hitting a peak, dedicated, motivated, hungry and ambitious.

But Gonzalez almost instantly found a rhythm. The champion opted to engage him on the inside and the little legend took advantage, landing thudding bodyshots and heavy blows upstairs.

And while Yafai might have wanted Gonzalez to wane as the fight progressed, Yafai had taken the kind of shots that instead made Kal too stagnant as time worse on. Even if he had changed things up and opted to use his size and reach, there wouldn’t have been enough on the jab to keep the Nicaraguan wizard at bay.

Yes, Gonzalez is 32, but his variety is ridiculous, his handspeed remains intact, he’s strong, his upperbody movement is still there. And while Yafai may have tried to set the pace, Gonzalez dictated it. He worked seamlessly at mid-range and in close, he scored off the back foot and while on the front foot, rarely presenting Yafai with any kind of target to hit even though he was right in front of him. He looked wonderfully well persevered. He attacked from the front and, by pivoting to each flank, from both sides. He effortlessly threw hooks in around the elbows and uppercuts through the middle. Yafai was in there pitching, landing to the body in round six, but Gonzalez made him pay for it and Yafai was in the hurt locker at the close of the sixth. He was in trouble in the seventh. He was down and drowning late in the eighth and, by then, predictably finished in the ninth.

In that decisive session, Yafai looked to heed the instructions from Spencer McCracken in his corner. “Box him,” urged McCracken, after asking Kal how he was feeling; a cover for asking whether he felt he was okay to carry on.

But when the two men came out Gonzalez closed off every escape route. He cornered Yafai, lined him up, waited, looked for it and then drove home the right hand that finished it.

He’s now back on top and wants unification fights.

Yafai would have learned more from spending nine rounds in the ring with Gonzalez than he would have done the previous 148.

Of course, the critics will line up. The Matchroom detractors will say Eddie Hearn led another British world champion to the US to lose his title. The DAZN money dictates that many of the UK’s stars have headed to America. And many of them have lost. This wasn’t one of those hopeless causes, where a fighter has found himself in the mandatory position by luck rather than judgement, or when a big overseas name comes off a loss or moves up in weight and needs a win. This was a mistimed gamble. Gonzalez ran up a big lead and never looked like either running out of gas, fading or falling apart. He’s still got it. He’s still brilliant. He’s a legend. Yafai is still very good, he’s still world class. It serves to illustrate that a loss, even a devastating knockout, doesn’t make an elite fighter a bad boxer overnight. You don’t need to be unbeaten to be an exquisite talent or a Hall of Fame lock.

Greatness transcends race and nationality. It makes unashamed fanboys of grown men. Greatness also doesn’t just desert you. Sometimes it allows you one more throw of the dice, one more run or even just one more big night.

Whether there’s more to come for Gonzalez now or not, there’s nothing to prove. The International Boxing Hall of Fame was built for people like him. His size and stature might mean that he doesn’t get the widespread or mainstream acclaim that he’s due but he will know. Those around him will know. His fans will know. His sport will know. Yafai knows. Roman’s mentor, the late, great Alexis Arguello knew. Gonzalez is now 49-2 (41) and both those losses came to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, firstly via disputed decision and then via devastating knockout. The career obituaries were wheeled out before he fought Yafai.

Yafai was fresher. He was bigger. He needed a ‘name’ on his record. Gonzalez couldn’t still be motivated. The time was right.

Wrong.

There’s a new WBA super-flyweight champion. It’s the same old Gonzalez.

Chocolatito is still hot and boxing is richer for it.