Roman Gonzalez targeted for September return

Former pound-for-pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez is being lined up for a September return on HBO, according to the network and K2 promoter Tom Loeffler — both who let ESPN know of their plans for the Nicaraguan fighter.

Gonzalez (46-1, 38 KOs) last fought in March in a bloody war with Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Gonzalez would receive his first professional loss in that outing via a close majority decision, but it was a decision that many observers didn’t agree with. What everyone could agree with, however, was that it was a pretty fantastic fight.

Shortly after the loss, the WBC would order an immediate rematch between the fighters, a fight that’s currently in the works but not yet finalized.

"The WBC ordered the rematch, and that's the fight we're looking at doing. HBO wants to air that fight. The rematch is the plan but we haven't finalized an agreement yet, but that's the plan as of now," Loeffler said. "We saw the first fight was and it was a tremendous fight.

"Srisaket rose to the occasion and performed under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden and took advantage of the opportunity, but most people thought Roman won that fight and that's why the WBC ordered a rematch. So it will be a fight to see if Roman is still a top pound-for-pound fighter or if Srisaket is really the top fighter in that division."

The general idea at this point is to stage the fight in Southern California, in the weeks before or after Canelo Alvarez’s highly anticipated fight with Gennady Golovkin. And even more appealing is the fact that Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue (13-0, 11 KOs) may be joining Gonzalez on the card.

There’s been tons of anticipation and speculation about a potential bout between Gonzalez and Inoue — two top-10 P4P fighters on some lists — and putting Inoue on this card could prove to be the precursor for lining up a big showdown between the two next year.