By James Slater – One of boxing’s most underrated champions successfully retained his WBC featherweight crown with an impressive, 2nd-round TKO of the tough Rogers Mtagwa last night, as Mexico’s Jhonny Gonzalez got the job done in some style in El Paso. Overwhelming the Tanzanian with a series of hard and accurate shots that left the challenger reeling and hurt along the ropes, the warrior who celebrated his 30th birthday the day of the fight won at the 2:15 second mark courtesy of the ref’s decision to dive in and rescue 32-year-old Mtagwa..
Gonzalez, who has now defended his belt twice, is now 50-7(44). The somewhat battle-worn Mtagwa is now 27-14-2(19).
But as faded as Mtagwa may be, Gonzalez said after the win that he made a potentially hard fight look easy.
“I felt that I needed to end the fight early because I knew it could get dangerous,” Gonzalez said as quoted by Ringtv.com. “It looked easy, but it wasn’t.”
Now trained by legendary trainer Nacho Beristain, Gonzalez says he is ready for the biggest and the best out there.
“I want the best,” he stated. “Elio Rojas, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Juan Manuel Lopez and the others at this weight.”
Either name mentioned by Gonzalez would likely make a great fight for him; but could Gonzalez, a former WBO bantamweight champ who has already faced some great fighters, beat them? Gamboa seems to be headed up a weight class, so that fight looks unlikely, but the other fights Gonzalez asked for could conceivably be made. A Lopez fight would be interesting (if Juanma can get revenge over Orlando Salido, a fighter Gonzalez never actually mentioned), but we have to wait and see how the inactive Rojas does in his return this Friday before that possible fight can be assessed.
Gonzalez, though, deserves a big-money fight. He is exciting to watch, always comes in in shape and the 30-year-old is on a real roll right now – having won his last ten fights; all by stoppage! Since making the move up to 126 and teaming up with Nacho, Gonzalez has looked unstoppable.
Let’s see him in with an elite name next. He deserves it. As for Mtagwa, now loser of three out of his last four, retirement may be the sensible option. Best known for his thrilling 12-round war with Lopez, “The Tiger” has taken quite enough punishment in his up-and-down career.