By Jim Dower: Unbeaten super middleweight prospect Shawn Estrada (14-0, 12 KO’s) had little problem beating Terrance Wood (9-4, 6 KO’s) by an eight round unanimous decision on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights at the College Park Center, Arlington, Texas. The final judges’ scores were 78-74, 80-72 and 80-72.

Estrada, 26, weighed 196 pounds, almost 30 pounds over the super middleweight limit for this fight. The added weight seemed to slow him down, as he wasn’t able to quickly bum rush Woods and take him out in the first couple of rounds like Estrada has been doing against his overmatched opposition since turning pro in 2008. He looked slower and not strong at this weight. After the 6th round, Estrada was gassing badly and had lost whatever steam originally had on his punches.

It’s not a good sign that Estrada let himself get this heavy. His career seems to in a point where it’s not really progressing the way that it should. He fought in the 2008 Olympics for the United States, but his approach to the pro game has lacked finesse.

Instead of using the 3rd tier opposition that he’s been exclusively matched against to work on his boxing that he’ll need at some point in the future when they some day push him up, Estrada has instead just gone after his opponents to knock them out in the early rounds. He’s not a huge puncher and it seems like he’s wasted his first 13 fights as a pro by just trying to knock guys out instead of learning how to fight. He won’t be able to knock out the better opposition and may end up wishing he had learned how to fight properly earlier in his career.

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Dallas Jr. decisions Gonzalez

Light welterweight Mike Dallas Jr. (18-2-1, 7 KO’s) pounded out a 10 round unanimous decision over Miguel Gonzalez (20-3, 15 KO’s). The final judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90, 100-89. Dallas Jr., came into the fight having lost his last two fights, used his jab and quick combinations to dominate the slower Gonzalez throughout the fight. The loss ended a 14 fight winning streak for Gonzalez.