By David Finger at ringside

In the co-main event of the eagerly anticipated Mikey Garcia-Jesse Vargas fight at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas, four division world champion and future Hall of Famer Román “Chocolatito” González, 114.6, successfully returned to the top of the sport as he brutally knocked out WBA Super Flyweight Khalid Yafai, 114.8, at 29 seconds of the ninth round.

González suffered through a disastrous 2017, losing his trainer in November of 2016 and then dropping two straight fights to Sor Ringvisai. González elected to take nearly a year off and returned in September of 2018. However, with only one fight in 2018 and one fight in 2019 there were still questions remaining as to if he would still be shaking off some ring rust coming into this fight.

Well, after defeating an undefeated champion making his seventh title defense it is safe to safe Chocolatito is back.

The opening round proved to be the only round that the champion was able to execute his game plan, firing off a solid jab and seemingly outworking the Nicaraguan ever so slightly. But by round two González took control, fighting with more aggression and he found a home for his picture perfect uppercut and right cross. The champion seemed rattled towards the end of the second round.

Gonzalez continued to press the action in the third. The challenger was extremely effective with the right hand through true fight, but the effectiveness of that weapon became abundantly clear in the third. In round four ringsiders could see that he was wearing down the champion, who no longer used the jab or trying to box as he did in the opening round. Yafai seemed to spend much of the round covering up. A pair of right hands visibly rattled the champion as the round came to a close and the dominance would only be more pronounced as the fight continued.

Round five saw González stalk the fading Yafai, but a potential game changer took place in the sixth when what appeared to be a clash of heads opened up a cut on the right eye of Gonzalez. But the champion was unable to capitalize on the cut and Gonzalez returned to his aggressive breakdown of Yafai, again rattling him in the final 30 seconds of the round.

The fading champion continued to try and turn the tide in round seven but Gonzalez would not be denied and by round eight the brave Brit finally started to crack. With less than ten seconds left in the round he was dropped by a solid overhand right that was set up by the uppercut. The champion came out for round nine but he simply had nothing left and a vicious right cross to the chin brutally sent him to the canvas. Referee Luis Pabon wisely waved off the fight at 0:29. With the win González improves to 49-2, 41 KOs while Yafai sees his record fall to 26-1, 15 KOs. The victory was arguably the finest performance of Gonzalez’s illustrious career.

“I have God’s strength and God gave me my title back,” Gonzalez said of his title winning victory.