LODI BOXER BACK IN THE GAME
Giovannie Gonzalez was fully prepared to go 12 rounds in his boxing title fight on July 2 in Tijuana.
But the 31-year-old Tokay graduate only needed one and a half rounds to get the job done, sending opponent Christian Rene Arenas to his knees with a concentrated attack to the body. In doing so, Gonzalez claimed the vacant Universal Boxing Organization World Super Feather Title.
“It’s just a step closer to getting to a bigger fight. You’ve got to be patient in this game, and stay busy,” Gonzalez said. “My long-term goal is to drop one more weight class and challenge for a high-end belt, like WBC or WBO belt, a world title belt or international belt. I’ve just got to stay dedicated, because you start getting comfortable.”
Gonzalez was comfortable a few months ago. After a loss to Jose Luis Roa in Tijuana on Nov. 29 last year, Gonzalez announced his retirement from professional boxing. But that changed when he saw an opportunity for the UBO belt.
“Honestly, I got bored just being home not doing anything,” said Gonzalez, who said at the time he wanted to concentrate on running his boxing promotion company, King Gio Boxing Promotions. “I threw a show in March, and I saw guys that, not to take anything away from them, were younger than me but I can beat them. It was a long road to getting back in shape, because I took time off. I’m glad I did though, it gave my body time to heal.”
Gonzalez had to train hard to get down to weight from his retirement weight of about 160 pounds, but when he stepped into the ring at Big Punch Arena in Tijuana earlier his month, he was a lean 130 pounds. The tale of the tape was the same in every category except age — 5foot-6, 130 pounds, 62-inch reach.
Gonzalez went for the ribs early, with several blows in the first round. He went back to that strategy in the second round, only going for the face as part of combinations to open up Arenas’ body.
“We were expecting a lot more from the guy,” Gonzalez said. “We fought before, and he was a lot harder then, where I feel like I’m a better fighter than I was two years ago.”
About 45 seconds into the second round, Arenas dropped to his knees after Gonzalez hit him with three consecutive left hooks to the body. He did not stand back up until Gonzalez was giving his post-fight interview to the Best In Boxing streaming broadcaster.
Gonzalez said he had rewatched his last bout several times, and noticed he had gotten away from body shots.
“When I hit a guy in the body, you might not hear it on the broadcast, but you hear him go ‘unh,’ the gas leaving the body,” Gonzalez said. “I had abandoned that strategy, and we worked on that during training camp. Once we were up there, he looked soft, but you can’t let that fool you. Once I felt his power, I didn’t see any difference from the last fight, so we started going to the body, and I could tell he didn’t like it.”
Gonzalez now holds an 11-6-1 professional record, with nine knockouts.
What’s next for Gonzalez? He would like to hold a pro boxing event in Lodi to defend his belt, and has started talks to pursue that goal.
“It’s a lot of talking and figuring things out,” Gonzalez said. “We have an opponent for late October, but we don’t have a venue yet.”