Full Story">Full Story" alt="" width="224" height="300" />By Darrell Williams

When Nicaraguan WBA Minimum weight World champion, Roman Chocolate Gonzalez steps into the ring Tuesday night in Kobe, Japan; he will be carrying a very heavy heart. With the untimely death last week of his friend and mentor, the legendary Alexis Arguello; Gonzalez’s preparation has been anything but smooth leading up to his second defense against former two time champion Katsunari Takayama.

Arguello was Nicaragua’s greatest ever athlete and ambassador; the Nicaraguan people will be looking for the heir apparent to honor their idol with an explosive performance.

Gonzalez first knew of the death of Arguello, while watching TV after returning from his early morning run. “Alexis was a great inspiration for me. I was in complete shock watching the news unfold on TV” he said. “I called my manager, who was unable to hold back his tears. It was a very emotional time for everyone in my camp. “He wasn’t just a great friend and mentor to me; he was a sweet person to everyone that he came into contact with. I will miss all the great advice he always gave to me when important fights were coming up.”

Such has been the meteoric rise of Gonzalez, culminating in the four round destruction of Yutaka Niida last September to capture the 105lb crown; one subpar performance in his first defense against Fransisco Rosas, finds the 22yr old champion in the unusual position of having to prove himself all over again. “This fight means a lot to me for two different reasons,” He says. “Firstly I want to put up a good performance in honor of Alexis. Secondly, I am fighting a great fighter; Takayama is a two time champion. A victory and an impressive performance will make up for not reaching mine and everyone else’s expectations in my last fight.”

Whilst not diminishing the quality of his opponent; should he be victorious, the time will be right to go about unifying the division he says. “I think I’m the best fighter at 105lbs and I want to prove it. Garcia would be my ideal opponent but if he won’t fight me, Sithsamarichai or Nietes will do. After that we will take a look at the 108 division.

Gonzalez will enter the ring, bearing the name of the former three time World champion Arguello across the front of his shorts.