Jose El Gato Roman is back!

Following a split decision loss and a year lay-off, Jose “EL Gato” Roman is back. The lightweight prospect from Garden Grove California has made the move east to Indio California and is now training with the Diaz Brothers.

Roman returned to action on Friday and technically dismantled a tough Hector Miguel Zuniga of Tijuana Mexico. Zuniga was no easy task, he came out the gate applying pressure and never let up. Roman however, stayed composed and countered with pin-point accuracy to earn wide unanimous decision after eight rounds. The victory was the first under the guidance of Joel and Antonio Diaz.

Standnfight’s Dominic Serna caught up with “El Gato” after the fight.

Roman: It was a tough fight. I’ve gone a year without fighting but I trained really hard with the Diaz brothers and they prepared me well. They gave me a good plan to dominate the fight and that’s what I did.

DS: You fought a tough Miguel Zuniga, how did it feel after nearly a year off?

Roman: It was exciting. I trained really hard for it. I didn’t want to get too carried away, I wanted to work on my defense.

DS: At times in the fight, it looked like you had the guy hurt, did you want to go in for the kill?

Roman: I did but I knew the guy was strong. I didn’t want to out-punch myself so I did what Joel trained me to do.

DS: This is your first fight with Joel Diaz, tell me a little about that.

Roman: Yea, this is my first fight with him. It was almost six weeks for this camp and he trained me phenomenally and I really loved it.

DS: What’s training camp like out there in Indio, away from your hometown?

Roman: Out there, It’s more relaxed because there’s not much to do. So you pretty much have to train and run because there’s not much to do. So it keeps you mentally focused and Joel is just a great trainer. He has all the experience with Timothy Bradley so he knows what to do to be a world champion.

DS: You just closed out 2013, how do you see 2014?

Roman: 2014 is going to be great. We are going to fight 8-10 round fights and hopefully get a title shot.

DS: Anything you want to say to your fans and how can they follow you?

Roman: On Facebook just search my name, Jose Roman, On Instagram it’s @ElGatoRoman and I just want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting.