A win over the legendary Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez can set up Julio Cesar ‘El Rey’ Martinez with several more lucrative opportunities in the junior bantamweight division.

That’s of course, if he chooses to stick around at the weight.

Martinez enters a late notice assignment versus Nicaragua’s Gonzalez (50-3, 41KOs) as the reigning WBC flyweight titlist. The belt isn’t at stake for their scheduled 12-round junior bantamweight main event this Saturday on DAZN from Pechanga Arena in San Diego, and with Martinez—who replaced lineal/WBA junior bantamweight champion and countryman Juan Francisco Estrada (42-3, 28KOs) still keen on unifying the titles at flyweight no matter what happens this weekend.

“After I beat Chocolatito, I can move back down and face Sunny Edwards,” Martinez told BoxingScene.com. “After I beat Sunny Edwards, I’ll look for the other champions in unification fights.

“If I can’t get those fights, we always have the option of returning to super flyweight and look for the best fights there.”

Chief among his notable divisional rivals—and certainly the most outspoken—is Sunny Edwards, a supremely gifted technician and reigning IBF flyweight titlist.

Such a pairing carries a built-in storyline, even beyond the two-belt unification match. Martinez’s first title challenge came versus then-WBC flyweight titlist Charlie Edwards (17-1, 7KOs; 1ND), Sunny’s older brother. Their August 2019 title fight in London initially ended with Martinez winning by third-round knockout, which was correctly overturned when instant replay revealed that the knockout blow was delivered while Edwards was already on the canvas.

Mexico City’s Martinez (18-1, 14KOs; 2ND) picked up the vacant belt later in a ninth-round knockout of Cristofer Rosales later that December. Four title defenses have followed, including a No-Contest with mandatory challenger McWilliams Arroyo last November. There was no shortage of trash talk exchanged in any of those fights, nor has the younger Edwards been silent in his desire to take Martinez’s title in his own quest to become undisputed flyweight champion.

“It's all talk. Sunny Edwards isn’t saying anything I haven’t already heard. His brother also had a lot to say,” notes Martinez. “So did McWilliams Arroyo, so did Cristofer Rosales. They all say what they think they can do to me, but they don’t back it up in the ring.

“Once we fight, then all they can say is that I hit hard. I don’t need to talk about them. I have the power to show them what I’m about. If you’re about that, show it in the ring.”

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