After the fight: Dissecting Chocolatito Gonzalez’s boxing artistry

Chocolatito Gonzalez proves he’s a boxing artist who’s already a legend bound for the Hall of Fame. Here’s what makes him so unique.

Chocolatito Gonzalez is an artist, and the boxing ring and his opponent’s face and body are his canvases.

Gonzalez (51-3, 41 KOs) is still determining the scope of his legend. His March 5 performance against Julio Cesar Martinez at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA, went a long way in broadening his legacy.

Watching Gonzalez in the ring against Martinez, you could see the presence of Hall-of-Fame boxers within him.

Gonzalez’s willingness to isolate Martinez along the ropes while absorbing punishment was reminiscent of Roberto Duran. Like Duran steamrolled Sugar Ray Leonard in their first contest, Gonzalez did Martinez.

Gonzalez kept his gloves up, framing his intense face as he methodically swayed his head and shoulders side to side, slipping into the pocket to deliver a myriad of hooks and straight rights to Martinez’s head.

Speaking of Gonzalez’s face, his menacing demeanor and furrowed brow were similar to Jack Dempsey’s. ‘The Manasa Mauler’ was known for intimidating larger heavyweights just with his look.

Chocolatito Gonzalez possesses similar qualities as Robert Duran, Jack Dempsey, Manny Pacquiao and Felix Trinidad

Gonzalez’s attitude is polite and calm outside the ring, but in the heat of battle, his violent stare gives you the same chills as Dempsey’s. Even though the super flyweight only checks in at 5-foot-3 and 114 pounds, his ferocious charge makes you want to duck out of the way, even while watching him from the comfort of home.

Another factor that makes Gonzalez so haunting is his combination of speed and power. He owns a 75 percent KO rating, but his punching power is only part of his arsenal.

Although Gonzalez doesn’t dance around the ring, he’s explosive off the balls of his feet like Manny Pacquiao. Both quickly make up ground with small turbo boosts of energy that allow them to overtake their prey.

Before he evolved into a welterweight, Pacquiao started as a light flyweight, two divisions below Gonzalez’s current division. Comparing Gonzalez and Pacquiao at the same weight, Gonzalez’s hands seem faster.

Pacquiao was an unorthodox southpaw puncher, and Gonzalez’s cleaner technique allows him to land quicker than ‘Pac Man’ did during his time below super bantamweight.

There’s no doubting Gonzalez’s excellence, but like every fighter, he too has flaws,

Gonzalez’s deficiencies are comparable to Felix Trinidad’s.

Neither Trinidad nor Gonzalez likes to move backward. They’re offensive fighters who steadily advance like a spartan phalanx.

Pride sometimes gets the best of them. Trinidad thought he could out-muscle Bernard Hopkins, and Gonzalez thought he could out-slug Srisaket Sor Rungviasi in their first battle, but both were proven wrong.

Trinidad and Gonzalez think they’re the best men in the ring, and they’re usually right, but sometimes strategy can get the better of greatness. In a firefight, Trinidad and Gonzalez had a hard time disengaging.

When trying to retreat, both moved back upright and without head movement, which cost them in their lone knockout defeats.

Unlike Trinidad, Gonzalez’s second act is proving to be more successful. Even at 34 years old, Gonzalez continues to show improvement.

How much longer Gonzalez can thrive is anyone’s guess, but it doesn’t look like he’s close to declining. He found his rhythm and is firing on all cylinders.

The super flyweight division is filled with talents like Juan Francisco Estrada, Rungvisai and others, but Gonzalez might be the one fighter capable of learning from his mistakes.

Gonzalez is a rare boxer who might not be done realizing his full potential.