Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs. Juan Francisco Estrada II on April 20 on DAZN

By Boxing News - 01/31/2019 - Comments

Image: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs. Juan Francisco Estrada II on April 20 on DAZN

By Dan Ambrose: WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Juan Francisco Estrada have reached a deal for a rematch between them to take place on April 6 on DAZN in Los Angeles, California, according to RingTV. On the same card, International Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion T.J Doheny (21-0, 15 KOs) is expected to face WBA World 122 lb champion Daniel Roman (26-2-1, 10 KOs) in a unification.

The Doheny vs. Roman fight is going to be an excellent one, as both guys will come to fight. Doheny won’t have to chase Roman around the ring the way that Rungvisai had to with Estrada last time they fought. In terms of pure entertainment value, Doheny vs. Roman is a much better fight on paper than the Rungvisai vs. Estrada 2 fight in this writer’s view. Estrada was off and running against Rungvisai last year from the opening bell, and it wasn’t nearly as interesting to watch as many thought the fight would be.

Estrada wanted no part of Rungivisai’s powerful body attack, so he avoided mixing it up with him for vast stretches of the fight. In the meantime, it was all one-way traffic with Rungvisai landing powerful body shots. From the scoring of the fight, it appears the judges didnt count the body shots from Rungvisai as part of the scoring of the fight. It’s unclear if the judges are still going by amateur rules or what, but they seemed to be ignoring the huge body shots that Rungvisai was hitting Estrada for the entire fight. The shots from Rungvisai were so powerful, and it made it difficult to give Estrada any of the first 11 rounds. He was too busy trying not to get hit with his safety-first style of fighting. Having seen Estrada fight many times, it was disappointing to see him look so timid against Rungvisai.

Rungvisai (47-4-1, 41 KOs) signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing on Wednesday, so his fight with 28-year-old former WBA/WBO flyweight champion Estrada (38-3, 26 KOs) would be his first with the company on DAZN. Rungvisai, 32, already beat Estrada last year by a 12 round majority decision last year in February 2018 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. That fight was clearly not that close, as two of the judges scored it. One judge, Dave Moretti, had the Rungvisai-Estrada fight scored as a draw at 114-114, while the the other two had Rungvisai winning by the scored 117-111 and 115-113. At best, Estrada deserved to win just the 12th round, as he was just moving around on the outside almost the entire fight. The scoring was atrociously bad by all three of the judges. It might be a mistake on Rungvisai’s part to go back to Los Angeles to fight Estrada.

Since losing to Rungvisai last year, Estrada has come back from that defeat to beat Felipe Orucuta and Victor Mendez. Those are not great fighters unfortunately. The World Boxing Council has Estrada ranked #1 at 115.