_1634460283.jpg)
The road to a world title wasn’t easy for Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez (25-3-1).
On October 16th, the 30-year-old resident of Puerto Rico captured the WBO light flyweight title when he upset Elwin Soto (19-2) in Fresno, California via split decision. The fight took place on the Mikey Garcia-Sandor Martin undercard that was streamed live on DAZN.
The final scores were 116-112 twice for Gonzalez and 116-112 for Soto.
“It was a great fight. I had my best training camp and that is what showed in the win. I trained so hard which helped me do my best fight. I don’t know what is next. I am just celebrating my big win and hopefully in 2022 big fights will come,” Gonzalez told BoxingScene.com after receiving his belt from the WBO.
To say that the 30-year-old southpaw persevered would be an understatement. All three of Gonzalez’s losses have come by knockout and he also has a draw against journeyman Michael Ruiz Jr. who was (9-4-1) at the time. His career has come full circle from being a hot young prospect, to suffering losses in his biggest fights, to now becoming a world champion.
Gonzalez believes that his victory will motivate other fighter’s who haven’t had an easy path in the sport.
“I am very happy. I understand that with my victory I have inspired a bunch of fighters to work even harder because I showed with hard work that people can achieve their dreams and they can do it,” Gonzalez stated.
As for what is next, he said that he is going to take a nice break with family and friends and then he hopes to land a major fight.
“I will fight anyone. Hopefully I will be able to unify titles at 108 pounds next year. That is the goal. I don’t care who it is against,” said Gonzalez.
Send questions or comments to [email protected]. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter