Kal Yafai is set to open 2020 with a title defense against a future Hall of Famer in Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez.
Matchroom Boxing announced that Yafai will defend his WBA super flyweight title against Gonzalez on February 29. The fight will be part of a DAZN card taking place at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas with another world title bout previously confirmed for the event.
Yafai is the super flyweight division's longest reigning champion, having won the belt back in 2016 when he defeated Luis Concepcion. Since then, Yafai has made five title defenses against the likes of Sho Ishida, David Carmona and Israel Gonzalez to name a few. Yafai had been in talks for a potential title unification against WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada, but talks fell through after Estrada got injured weeks ago.
This has been a fight Yafai had been vocal about getting for years, telling Fightful all the way back in the summer of 2017 that he wanted to fight Gonzalez if Gonzalez had beaten Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in a WBC title rematch later that year. Gonzalez lost that fight when he got knocked out in the fourth round and so Yafai looked towards other options for title unifications, but ultimately failed in doing so.
Gonzalez, who has won world titles at minimumweight, light flyweight, flyweight and super flyweight, has been working his way back up to title contention ever since the two losses to Sor Rungvisai. Gonzalez has only fought twice 2018, both TKO victories against Moises Fuentes and Diomel Diocos.
The card now has three fights officially confirmed with the other title bout being a WBC flyweight championship fight between Julio Cesar Martinez and Jay Harris. Mikey Garcia vs. Jessie Vargas in a welterweight fight is the show's main event.