The night of Brandon Gonzales' life

May 30, 2014 Super middleweight Brandon Gonzales can't envision losing Saturday night against James DeGale. The fighters will meet in front of an expected crowd of 80,000 at London's Wembley Stadium on the undercard of an title fight between Carl Froch and George Groves. Why would Gonzales (18-0-1, 11 KO's) consider losing? As his professional record attests, Gonzales never has experienced defeat. The winner of Gonzales-DeGale in the IBF World Super Middleweight title eliminator bout is expected to face the winner of Froch-Groves. Gonzales, who lives in Sacramento and operates the Flawless Boxing and Fitness gym on T street in downtown Sacramento, has the opportunity against DeGale to put himself in line for a long-awaited title shot. Boxing is one of the world's toughest professions. When boxers train and/or practice to improve in their craft, they can take punishment sparring on a daily basis. Few people go to work and put their bodies and faces on their line every day. Gonzales spars with former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward, now viewed as one of the sport's best boxers. Gonzales is trained by Virgil Hunter, considered to be one of the world's best. "I've been working with Virgil for the past three years and I've known him for almost a decade," Gonzales said. "I've always wanted to work with him but we couldn't work it out schedule-wise." Gonzales said he and many others believed he defeated Thomas Oosthuizen in the one draw on his record. However, we all know boxing is a crazy sport where questionable scoring is prevalent. Gonzales is considered the underdog when fighting in London against the hometown DeGale (18-1, 12 KO's). Gonzales switched promoters recently from Terry and Tommy Lane, the sons of longtime referee Mills Lane. Gonzales changed promoters to Gary Shaw and Antonio Leonard because he believed Shaw and Leonard could put him in position for a title shot. And Saturday night in London, it will be on Gonzales' fists to take the next step toward a title with a victory over DeGale. The Froch-Groves bout can be seen on HBO Saturday.