Roman Gonzalez, the former pound for pound champion from Nicaragua, ended a 15-month layoff Monday, stopping overmatched Filipino Diomel Diocos in two rounds on the Murata- Butler card in Yokohama, Japan.

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Gonzalez (48-2, 40 knockouts) kept his composure as Diocos (14-6-3, 4 KOs) of Siaton, Philippines threw slapping combinations, mostly against the gloves of Gonzalez. “Chocolatito” wasted little in his approach, hammering Diocos to the ribs with left hooks, and rocking Diocos along the ropes with right hands in round two, compelling the referee to call a knockdown because the ropes were holding up the Filipino.

The 32-year-old Gonzalez showed some of his old combination punching, albeit against limited competition, mixing in uppercuts and body shots in a follow-up attack which brought the non-title junior bantamweight fight to an end at the 2:20 mark.

It was the first time Gonzalez had been in the ring since September of 2018, when he stopped Moises Fuentes in five rounds.

Gonzalez had been sidelined at the end of 2018 with a knee injury which nixed a fight in December of 2018. The four-division champion from Managua, Nicaragua had been considered by The Ring as the pound for pound best fighter in the world prior to his two defeats against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.