‘Chop Chop’ Gonzalez shows he’s a legit title contender with KO win

Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez went from prospect to legit contender in less than a year.A world title opportunity could be in play next year.Gonzalez punctuated an excellent 2026 on Oct. 24, knocking out former two-time world title challenger Edward Vazquez in the second round at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.The 24-year-old Gonzalez improved to 19-0 with 12 knockouts.Both fighters had their moments during the opening stanza, with Vazquez being the aggressor. Gonzalez attempted to catch and counter Vazquez’s offense, finding success at times.Early in the second round, a right to the head hurt Vazquez. Gonzalez followed up, connecting with combinations to the head and body. Gonzalez continued to batter Vazquez across the ring, eventually dropping him to the canvas, near the ropes, with a punch to the body. Vazquez struggled to his knees and was counted out by referee Laurence Cole at 1:04.“I did expect him to come out aggressively to start the fight,” Gonzalez said after the fight. “I also wanted to show him that we could stay in the pocket and fight as well. I expected it to be a longer night. Thank God we were able to land that shot to the body and end matters early. “The sparring we get in the gym every day, I feel we can adapt to any style.”Gonzalez has had an impressive run this year. In his previous fight on July 18, Gonzalez scored a second-round knockout win over former world title challenger Aaron Alameda at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.The win over Vazquez culminated a run this year of four fights, where Gonzalez won all of them by knockout.Robert Garcia, who trains Gonzalez, believes his young fighter is ready to fight any of the current world titleholders in the featherweight division. “I knew he was going to have a great performance,” Garcia told The Star after the fight. “I thought the fight would end in round 6 or 7. With the performance he had (Saturday), there is no other young fighter (in boxing) that had four fights and won them all by knockout. All the media should ask the question as to which young fighter did what he did, especially these last two fights. He should be ‘Prospect of the Year’ and fight for a world title next year.“ ‘Chop Chop’ can fight any of the world champions. He’s ready. He has that drive, self-motivation and discipline in the gym and look at the results in his recent fights.”Gonzalez is ranked in the top 11 in three of boxing’s sanctioning bodies.Vazquez, who resides in Fort Worth, falls to 20-4, 6 KOs. Vazquez had won his previous three fights since a knockout loss to WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza of Mexico on May 4, 2025.Espinoza is one of the world titleholders on Gonzalez’s radar.The 31-year-old challenged Joe Cordina for the IBF junior lightweight title in November 2023, losing by a close majority decision, a fight many thought Vazquez did enough to win. In preliminary action, in a clash of junior featherweights who reside in San Antonio, Daniel Cortez III defeated Joshua Montoya by split decision. One judge scored the bout 58-56 for Montoya, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 for Cortez, who improves to 14-1, 9 KOs.Cortez is also trained by Garcia and has won his last three bouts.Montoya falls to 8-6-2, 1 KO.Francisco A. Salazar covers boxing for The Star. He has also written for Ring Magazine, Boxingscene and Fightnews. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at FSalazarBoxing.This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: ‘Chop Chop’ Gonzalez shows he’s a legit title contender with KO win