The thinning of the herd continues at junior flyweight.
Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez is the latest to abandon the 108-pound division. The 33-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw has vacated his WBO junior flyweight title, the sanctioning body formally confirmed.
The move came with the assurance that a clear path would be provided to a title shot at his new weight.
“WBO 108-[pound] World champion Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez will be classified No. 1 in [the] 112-pound division,” WBO president Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcarcel confirmed.
ANOTHER RELINQUISHED 108-POUND TITLE
The move comes just two weeks after Kenshiro Teraji (23-1, 14 knockouts) abdicated his championship throne. The Ring, WBC and WBA 108-pound king vacated his alphabet titles and will now also campaign at flyweight.
Teraji and Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 knockouts), No. 1 at 108 by The Ring, were due to unify last April. Fitting to Gonzalez’s long but frustrating reign, he fell ill two weeks prior to the multi-belt clash and was forced to withdraw.
Anthony Olascuaga—promoted by All Star Boxing, Inc., as is Gonzalez—was brought in as a late replacement. Teraji won via ninth-round knockout.
Gonzalez desperately tried to get the books back on the table after his latest win. A homecoming was afforded the long-reigning WBO titlist, who outpointed fellow islander Rene Santiago on March 2 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Talks immediately began with Teraji, but Gonzalez’s asking price was a non-starter in attempting to reschedule the championship clash.
A LONG, BUT STALLED, TITLE REIGN
Gonzalez defeated Elwin Soto in Oct. 2021 to win the WBO 108-pound title. Injuries, illness and years-long struggle to make weight slowed his reign to a crawl, however. Just three title defenses came during that period, along with back-to-back cancelled fights in an empty 2023 campaign.
The failed effort to face Teraji prompted Gonzalez’s team to secure a rust-shaker title defense. Gonzalez was due to face Gerardo Zapata, a replacement for Leyman Benavides, last October 27 in Managua, Nicaragua.
time, he went all the way into fight week before he bailed. Illness was once again cited in a decision to withdraw from the event.
Weirdly, it set up his final title defense. Santiago was elevated to main event that evening, where he defeated Jose Vivas to win the interim WBO belt. A title consolidation bout was immediately ordered, which Gonzalez won with room to spare.
Gonzalez will likely take an interim fight at flyweight while the title picture is sorted out at the weight. Olascuaga (6-1, 4 KOs) is due to face Riku Kano (22-4-2, 11 KOs) for the vacant WBO 112-pound title on July 20 in Tokyo.
FILLING THE VOID LEFT BEHIND
Meanwhile, the WBO will have to order a vacant 108-pound title fight to fill the void. The top two rated contenders are Shokichi Iwata and Jairo Noriega.
Gonzalez defeated Tokyo’s Iwata (12-1, 9 KOs) via unanimous decision in a Nov. 2022 mandatory title defense. Iwata has since won three straight and is due to face the Philippines’ Jahzeel Trinidad (11-0, 6 KOs) on July 6 in Tokyo.
Noriega (14-0, 3 KOs) is also promoted by All Star Boxing, Inc. The 31-year-old Spaniard advanced in the WBO rankings after a March 8 12-round decision win over Azael Villar in Managua. The bout was his first outside of Spain.
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