The recently crowned junior flyweight champion (108 pounds) of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), Jonathan "Bomba" Gonzalez, feels that he avenged a tough defeat that his close friend and fellow Puerto Rican, Angel “Tito” Acosta, suffered at the hands of Mexican puncher Elwin “La Pulga” Soto.

Back in June 2019, Soto was down on the cards when stopped Acosta in the twelfth round to capture the WBO title.

He made four defenses of the belt before meeting Gonzalez last Saturday night in Fresno, California.

Gonzalez (25-3-1, 14 KOs), a 2010 gold medalist at the Central American and Caribbean Games, boxed his way to a twelve round split decision to capture the WBO belt from Soto.

When he watched Soto capture the belt from Acosta, Gonzalez made a mental decision  that he was going to avenge his friend's defeat at some point.

Gonzalez was able to fight his way to a mandatory position, which paved the way for last weekend's fight.

"One of the people I called [on Saturday] night when I defeated Elwin was Tito Acosta. He was very happy, he is doing his thing," Gonzalez said to Sara Hernandez. 

“I spent a long time on the national team with Tito Acosta, and we are almost brothers. We grew up together. When we were on the national team we traveled together, we were always together. So when Elwin beat Tito I said to myself: 'I'm going to take him out.'

“I feel very happy, I feel happy, grateful to God for this opportunity. Now I have to keep working and training hard. We have already become champion, now we have to stay that way. I want to look for good fights and big names at 108 pounds. We have to wait, but I have many goals."