A major change in the lineup of the final HBO Boxing card has occurred.
Former world champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez has reportedly suffered a knee injury while training in Indio, California and is unable to compete on the December 8 card at the StubHub Center. Gonzalez was supposed to fight Pedro Guevara in the televised co-main event bout.
According to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, promoter Tom Loeffler is currently negotiating to bring in super flyweight contender Juan Francisco Estrada as a replacement. Estrada has not fought since winning a wide unanimous decision victory over Felipe Orucuta in the main event of an HBO card on September 8.
The news comes as a disappointing one to fans of HBO Boxing as Gonzalez has been one of the top fighters to compete on the network in the past decade. Gonzalez would have made his U.S. television return on December 8 for the first time since being knocked out by WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai back in September 2017. Gonzalez recently returned to the ring this past September, winning a fight against Moises Fuentes on the pay-per-view card of the rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
The main event of the card will see Cecilia Braekhus defending her undisputed women's welterweight title against Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes. The opening bout will also feature unified women's middleweight champion Claressa Shields taking on Femke Hermans. It will be the first time in HBO history that two women's boxing fights are aired live on the same card.