Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez has never weighed lighter than 108 pounds for a pro fight.
He came in right at that limit for his WBO junior flyweight title-winning effort over Elwin Soto last October, and has previously campaigned at flyweight and junior bantamweight. However, the Puerto Rican southpaw is confident that—for the right opportunity—he could see himself as a strawweight just long enough to collect another belt.
“I just want to win a title there,” Gonzalez told BoxingScene,com ahead of his upcoming junior flyweight title defense. “If the WBO gives me the opportunity to fight for the strawweight title, we will sit down with our nutritionist and come up with a plan for just one fight at that weight.
“Heading into the final week of training camp, I was weighing 114 pounds and drinking eight bottles of water a day. If the WBO gives me the opportunity to fight for the title at 105 pounds while still retaining my [junior flyweight] belt, I will do it that one time.”
For now, Gonzalez (25-3-1, 14KOs) has an important task immediately in his sights.
The 31-year-old represents Puerto Rico’s only male boxer to currently hold a major title. Gonzalez defends that WBO junior flyweight belt against Philippines’ Mark Anthony Barriga this Friday atop a ProBox TV card from Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. The bout marks his first defense and fourth straight fight at junior flyweight after suffering a seventh-round stoppage in an otherwise competitive challenge of then-unbeaten WBO flyweight titlist Kosei Tanaka in August 2019.
The bout came at a time when Gonzalez spent the bulk of his career fighting as a flyweight or heavier. He still envisions a return to the weight, with aspirations of becoming a three or even four-division titlist.
The latter goal will depend on the cooperation—or lack thereof—from his fellow junior flyweight titlists and which opportunity first presents itself outside the junior flyweight division.
“We have all these guys at 108, 112, 115 pounds,” insists Gonzalez. “I’m not going to wait for no one. I have a dream right now. I’m going to win this fight, win the next fight (in October or November), then we can either unify, go up to 112 or 115 pounds or even go all the way down to strawweight for one fight just to win a title then come back up.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox