Former four division world champion, Nicaraguan Román "Chocolatito" González, will finally snap his stint of inactivity, when he faces Filipino Diomel Diocos, on December 23, as part of a big card being staged by Teiken Promotions at the Yokohama Arena in Japan .

The Nicaraguan fighter has not fought since September 2018 when he knocked out former Mexican world champion Moisés Fuentes in five rounds.

Before that fight, in 2017, Gonzalez lost the only two bouts of his career, both against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. González was injured and was operated on one knee after knocking out Fuentes, and although for weeks he was training in Coachella, California, under the orders of Nicaraguan coach Marcos Caballero, there was no assurance of a prompt return.

However, this bout arose, and at 32 years of age, Chocolatito will look to verify how much gasoline is left in its tank.

Undoubtedly, Chocolatito will look to make a statement against Diocos, who owns a 14-5-3 record with 4 knockouts.

This year, Diocos has been active, with four fights, but he has lost three and does not seem to be the opponent who can spoil a successful return of the Nicaraguan fighter.

Gonzalez, who at one time was considered to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, has a record of 47-2 record, with 39 knockouts. He hasn't fought in Japan in the last five years, since he knocked out Rocky Fuentes in six rounds in November 2014.

Gonzalez's return will be part of the event that is headlined by WBA "regular" middleweight champion Ryota Murata (15-2, 12 KOs), who defends his title against Canadian challenger Steven Butler (28-1-1, 24 KOs) ), and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji (16-0, 9 KOs) defending his title against Filipino Randy Petalcorin (31-3-1, 23 KOs). Also on the card, former world champion Akira Yaegashi (28-6, 16 KOs) will collide against IBF champion Moruti Mthalane (38-2, 25 KOs).

ESPN+ will stream most of these fights in the United States.

Pablo Fletes covers boxing for notifight.com