It wasn't an easy outing, but Kal Yafai has once again successfully defended his WBA super flyweight title.
On a Matchroom Boxing card in Monaco that was streamed on DAZN, Yafai defeated Israel Gonzalez by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112) to retain his world title.
The two fighters were somewhat evenly matched in the opening rounds. Yafai targeted the body, but looked a bit sluggish as Gonzalez was able to throw several combinations which pressured Yafai. Gonzalez, who was fighting in his second world title fight this year, let his hands loose early and outboxed Yafai at times.
Late in the fifth round, Gonzalez had to deal with a nasty cut above his left eye due to a clash of heads which prompted a pause in the action. Gonzalez was still able to recover and continue fighting aggressively against Yafai. Yafai was able to string together better combinations and have an easier time landing punches. Yafai would continue working the body and landing the harder punches en route to the victory. Yafai tried to look for a chance to hurt and even knock out Gonzalez late in the fight, but that big punch never came.
This was Yafai's fourth world title defense since winning the title back in 2016. This was also Yafai's second defense of the title in 2018 with his last bout taking place in the United States back in May. Yafai is currently one of the champions being linked to either a potential unification fight in 2019 or a bout against former world champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, a matchup that Yafai had been wanting since the summer of 2017.
