LONG BEACH, California – Joet Gonzalez resolved before Saturday night’s featherweight clash with rugged Arnold Khegai that everything was on the line.

With three title losses, his 31st birthday behind him and the four sanctioning bodies failing to find a spot in their top 15 for the Southern Californian Gonzalez, this was it.

Summoning that desperation in all the moments the action intensified, Gonzalez, 27-4 (15 KOs), produced a heartfelt split decision triumph over the Ukraine's Khegai, claiming victory by scores of 96-93, 94-95, 97-92 in the ProBox TV main event at Thunder Studios.

Gonzalez hadn’t fought since his September 2023 IBF featherweight title loss to Luis Alberto Lopez, who has since lost his belt to new titleholder and ProBox TV fighter Angelo Leo. That defeat was his final bout with promoter Top Rank, and Gonzalez’s personal gym closed, as well, during the layoff.

“Just because I wasn’t fighting doesn’t mean I wasn’t in the gym,” he said Saturday. “I trained so hard for this. I was so dedicated, and it’s good to be back.”

The action intensified in the fourth as Khegai responded to Gonzalez by increasing his activity and delivering the harder punches.

Khegai, 22-2-1 (14 KOs), after being warned by referee Thomas Taylor, suffered a one-point deduction for holding Gonzalez in the fifth.

That not only increased his desperation but triggered Gonzalez’s determination.

“[Khegai] was good," Gonzalez said. "His punches are above average. He’s a little dirty. I had to be a little cautious because there were some dirty moments in there, but the referee warned him. … He head-butted me, tried to throw me. … He was frustrated.”

By the sixth, both fighters were bleeding – Khegai through the nostrils and Gonzalez from his right eyebrow, explaining that by blocking a Khegai punch, his own wrist opened the cut at the eye bone.

Each sought to further the damage, with Khegai pressing his head into the torn flesh and Gonzalez distributing repeated combinations that targeted the center of Khegai’s face.

As Khegai tried to lure in Gonzalez and deliver decisive blows, Gonzalez continually launched scoring combinations.

Khegai admitted, “He was tougher than I thought he was.”

Still, the action was fervent, tense and even.

CompuBox punch statistics showed Gonzalez outlanded Khegai by a scant 137-135 margin, with a slightly more effective jab (37-29), while Khegai outlanded Gonzalez, 106-100, in power punches.

Khegai, the world’s No. 2-rated featherweight by the WBO while holding two other top-15 slots, struggled to answer why it wasn’t his night. 

“I don’t know. I didn’t feel the strength in my punches. I wasn’t myself. My power wasn’t the same.” he said.

Judges Jack Reiss and Ivan Guillermo awarded Gonzalez the final six rounds to decide the outcome.

“I thought I was winning,” Gonzalez said. "I landed my punches flush. I was just nervous because he was the favorite."

Now, Gonzalez hopes he skyrockets up the rankings “toward the top five” as he pursues a possible fourth title fight after losing unanimous decisions to Lopez and three-division champions Shakur Stevenson and Emanuel Navarrete.

“I haven’t lost to nobodies. I’ve been in there with the best,” he said. “Every fight is like a world title to me. Tonight got me one step closer.

“I’m here to fight the best. Angelo Leo is one of those. I’ve known him since the amateurs. I’m ready. I’ve just got to get back to the gym and keep winning.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.