boxer Roman "El Chocolatito" Gonzalez speaks with local media after his arrival at Augusto C. Sandino international Airport in Managua, Nicaragua March 20, 2017 after losing his match to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand. REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

Dec 3 (Reuters) - When Nicaragua's boxing great Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez struts into a glitzy U.S. ring bidding to become six-time world champion on Saturday, he will also represent a vast sporting project of another man: authoritarian President Daniel Ortega.

A lightweight fighter renowned for his blistering speed and willingness to wear the Sandinista flag stitched to his boxing shorts, Gonzalez, 35, is looking to the fight in Glendale, Arizona to cement his legacy by snatching the WBC Super Flyweight title in his third bout against old foe Juan Francisco Estrada.

Ortega's public image has been severely compromised by the ongoing crackdown on dissent since the eruption of mass protests in 2018," said Tiziano Breda, a Crisis Group analyst for Central America.

Yet it's no longer clear Gonzalez packs the same populist punch.

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The boxer's support for Ortega's efforts to hold onto power and for Nicaragua's National Police, which were sanctioned by the United States for "serious human rights abuses" during the 2018 protests, have left Gonzalez a deeply divisive figure.

Boxers, soccer players and baseball stars have been instrumental to shoring up Ortega's base among Nicaragua's poorest and most marginalized people.

In return, Ortega's government has rewarded pliable sportsmen by paying their salaries, doling out houses, and using state institutions to aid them