The great ones only last so long.

We know it from years of watching them come and go. There is no set time table and every run is different.

But when it’s over, it’s over.

It’s not over yet for Nicaragua’s Roman Gonzalez, freshly minted with the WBA belt in his second title reign at 115 lbs.

Saturday night, in a vintage performance, he showed off all the tools that made him at peak arguably the finest fighter at flyweight and below in decades. He worked the jab, moved his feet, and punched in picturesque combination. As the rounds wore on, Khalid Yafai had to feel at time like he was fighting a three-armed man. Eventually wearing the same mask of fatigue and frustration so many before him had, Yafai fell to a perfect right hand.

Whether this was just a last trip near the top, or the beginning of one more fantastic run, remains to be seen. It’s the fun of the moment. He didn’t just look quicker and fresher on Saturday than in his last two fights. Gonzalez also appeared better conditioned. There was more definition to his frame and he didn’t swell on contact. After a brutal knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, two dominant but still somewhat sluggish performances, and a knee surgery in between, Saturday night may prove an illusion. If not, an already sure-fire Hall of Fame career could add some fine depth.

Jr. bantamweight is too loaded not to find out one way or the other.      

Let’s get into it.

The Future for Gonzalez: Reportedly, after the fight, Saturday’s promoter Eddie Hearn said he wants to go straight to a unification clash between Gonzalez and lineal/WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada. In terms of money, attention, and ticket sales, there isn’t a bigger fight to be made at Jr. bantamweight. Whether the WBA would allow it with Andrew Moloney due a title shot remains to be seen. He’s the interim titlist but the WBA hasn’t been shy about having multiple champions per weight for years at a time so that might not be much an obstacle.

Estrada isn’t Yafai. His clash with Gonzalez in 2012 is a fondly recalled hardcore fan classic at 108 lbs. Estrada’s career has largely been contested at 112 and 115 lbs. and Gonzalez is the lone loss he has yet to avenge. Ironically, injuries to Estrada hampered the chances to see the rematch at flyweight and now open the door for a showdown in 2020. It was supposed to be Estrada in a unification fight with Yafai Saturday. Now, he can compete for the same two titles with a bigger payday at stake. Can Gonzalez defeat the younger Estrada again? Can Estrada avenge defeat? There’s no better question to be asked right now.

The window for the rematch is narrow. If it can’t happen, Gonzalez is likely to still chase some unification. For all he’s done, he’s never had a chance to hold multiple titles. Kazuto Ioka (WBO) has a mandatory likely coming against Kosei Tanaka, leaving IBF titlist Jerwin Ancajas as the remaining option of the belted. There are also intriguing clashes like a Donnie Nietes who has yet to announce retirement or even a third fight with the lone man to defeat him, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

None of those would be as appealing as Estrada.

Assuming Estrada can get done, Gonzalez would have to be considered the underdog but here’s a question worth pondering: after a potential Estrada-Gonzalez rematch, what’s the biggest money fight left below featherweight? Would the winner be willing to pack on three pounds for what would be for them a ‘monster’ of a challenge and payday?

For now, it’s enough to enjoy at least one more remarkable performance from one of the genuine greats of this era.   

The Future for Yafai: Reports after the fight have Yafai headed to bantamweight and he can surely pick up a win or two to line himself up for a crack at a belt. His luck might not improve with the weight. Bantamweight has a solid top of the class right now, not the least of which is unified titlist Naoya Inoue. Yafai is a solid professional but his title reign before Saturday had been unremarkable and he simply wasn’t in Gonzalez’s class. Perhaps he could have moved more, clinched more, attempted to nullify more, but was it really going to matter? Gonzalez made him a veritable Pez dispenser twice early, landing body shots that sent his mouthpiece to the deck. Good fighters lose to great fighters if the great ones still have enough of their A game and defeat is no shame. Yafai can continue his career knowing he shared the ring for one memorable night with one of the biggest stars near his weight in memory. Only one man in fifty-plus fights had a better fate than defeat.              

Rold Picks 2020: 7-3 (Including Picks in Martinez-Harris, Garcia-Vargas)

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com