On Wednesday, the World Boxing Council (WBC) continued with their 53rd annual convention and took care of a lot of business including naming mandatory challengers for their current champions. All eyes were open and people were waiting to see who the next challenger would be for the current pound for pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (44-0, 38 KO’s) and the organization’s choice of the mandatory seems odd to me personally.
Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai (30-0, 23 KO’s) of Thailand was named the number one contender for Gonzalez’ 112-pound belt. When you look at Rungvisai’s record alone, it looks very impressive A guy winning all of his fights and knocking out over two-thirds of his opponents should mean that Gonzalez will be in a tough fight but when you look at the quality of opposition that Rungvisai has faced, there is nothing to be impressed with.
Looking at the fact that he has never left his home country to fight is a big indication of the type of fighters that he is facing. It’s not a Chris John situation where you mostly stay at home to fight because even John fought some big names in the sport (example Juan Manuel Marquez). Should Rungvisai agree to fight Gonzalez and leave his home country we will see what he is actually made of when he is put to the test.
Should the fight happen, it will mark the second time Gonzalez will have fought a mandatory opponent since winning the WBC title. His first defense took place back in May when he made his HBO debut against Edgar Sosa on the undercard to Gennady Golovkin – Willie Monroe. Since the Sosa fight, Gonzalez has gone on to fight on his first Pay Per View card against Brian Viloria winning impressively and showing why he is the man to beat and the pound for pound king.
