Home Boxing News Kal Yafai to defend against ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez on February 29, Andrew Moloney...

Kal Yafai to defend against ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez on February 29, Andrew Moloney must wait

Kal Yafai

WBA super flyweight champion Kal Yafai 26-0 (15) will make te sixth defence of his title against former four division world champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez 48-2 (40) at The Star in Frisco, Texas on February 29.

The fight will take place on the undercard of the Mikey Garcia vs Jessie Vargas bout.

“I wanted the biggest possible fight available and after the Juan Francisco Estrada unification fell through, I had the opportunity to fight Chocolatito, the former pound for pound king,” said the 30-year-old Yafai.

“Chocolatito is someone that I have idolised as I worked my way up to become world champion myself, so it doesn’t get much bigger than this and it will bring out the best in me. I can’t wait, it is a case of when idols become rivals and I am so honored to share the ring with him but also show the world that I am an elite world champion.”

The news will not be welcomed by interim WBA 115-pound champion Andrew ‘The Monster’ Moloney 21-0 (14) who has been pushing for his mandatory shot at the full title. The winner of Yafai-Gonzalez must face Moloney within 120 days of the bout.

Gonzalez welcomed the opportunity to win another world championship.

“First of all, I would like to thank Mr Eddie Hearn for giving me this opportunity to fight for the world championship,” said the 32-year-old Nicaraguan.

“God has responded to my prayers once again. I want to thank God and Teiken foremost. Also, the champion, Kal Yafai for giving me the opportunity to fight for the championship once again. I know this will be a very hard fight, but it will be worthy of all our efforts and determination.”

“This is a brilliant fight on an absolute monster of a show,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “Kal Yafai has been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time and now he gets it against a legend of the sport in Chocolatito. This card in Texas is going to be epic and you can expect Yafai vs Chocolatito to be an all-out war.”