By Aragon Garcia: Former flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (39-3, 26 KOs) put in a great performance tonight in beating WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (47-5-1, 41 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Friday night on DAZN at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
With the crowd behind him with their support, Estrada boxed beautifully for 12 rounds in making the flat-footed, shorter, older and slower Rungvisai look amateurish tonight. Rungvisai, 32, was confused throughout, and changed stances constantly for no rhyme or reason. The scores were 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113. Boxing News 24 scored it for Estrada by a 116-112 score. In the last three rounds, Estrada stopped moving as much and stood in front of Rungvisai to slug with him.
It was a peculiar move on Estrada’s part, because he was doing such an incredible job of boxing Rungvisai from the outside. There was no reason for him to stand and trade. After the fight, Estrada revealed the reason why he stopped moving. He said he wanted to entertain his boxing fans by punching with Rungvisai to make it interesting for them. It was so one-sided when Estrada was moving and counter punching that the fight was boring to watch at times because it was too one-sided. Rungvisai looked like he didn’t belong inside the same ring with Estrada.
“He surprised me with his left-hand stance, but I’m comfortable with the right hand, so it was no problem,” Estrada said after the fight. “I stood in the middle because I wanted to show the Mexican people an everybody I could punch with him. If he wants a third fight, I’m going to give him a third fight, but I prefer another championship fight first,” Estrada said.
Estrada, 29, might have a difficult time trying to get the other super flyweight champions to agree to fight him after tonight. They want to hold onto their titles, and he might have frightened them away with the way that he dominated the monster of the 115 lb weight division. The movement that Estrada showed will turn off the other champions Khalid Yafai and Jerwin Ancajas. If that performance didn’t scare them away, it’ll make their promoters reluctant to match their fighters against him. Estrada might be better off moving up to bantamweight and looking to face the winner of the World Boxing Super Series 118 lb tournament. Estrada could make good money fighting Naoya Inoue or Nonito Donaire. Staying at super flyweight is dead end for Estrada. Other than a rematch with Rungvisai, there’s no one else for Estrada to fight. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has knee problems, and he likely won’t be able to fight Estrada at this point.
Danny Roman vs. TJ Doheny – RESULTS
WBA super bantamweight champion Daniel Roman (27-2-1, 10 KOs) defeated IBF 122 lb champion TJ Doheny (21-1, 15 KOs) in the fight of the night in winning an exciting 12 round majority decision. The judges’ scores were 116-110, 113-113 and 116-110. Boxing News 24 scored it for Roman by a 116-110 score.
Roman dominated the early action of the fight in dropping the 32-year-old Doheny in the second round. Doheny came back in the middle of the fight to hurt Roman with a series of heavy shots in the seventh round. Doheny got the better of Roman until the 10th, and that’s when Roman took command of the fight with his powerful body shots to cruise to a victory. Doheny appeared to be hurt in the rib area from the many body shots he’d taken in the fight.
The southpaw Doheny fought well in the middle of the fight in landing his left hands to the head of the bigger, younger 28-year-old Roman. Doheny came close to scoring a knockout in the seventh and eighth rounds after hurting Roman with lefts, but he couldn’t generate enough power to put the bigger Roman. The weight difference might have been what stopped Doheny from knocking Roman out. Roman looked like he was at least 10 to 15 lbs heavier tonight than Doheny. That extra size advantage helped Roman absorb big shots that he probably wouldn’t have been able to take if the two were the same size.
In the 11th, Roman knocked Doheny down with a body shot. Roman continued to hurt Doheny with body shots each time he would go downstairs. It wasn’t easy for Roman land his punches to the body though, because Doheny was moving a lot in the last two rounds, and landing his left hand when Roman would try and throw a shot to his midsection.
“Around the middle rounds, he caught me with a body shot. He kept working on it,” Doheny said after the fight about the body shot that he was hurt from by Roman. “My stock can go up. I’m still learning. I think the best is yet to come.”
Doheny is a dangerous fighter because of his powerful left hand. He’s going to be a problem for anybody in the division.
“He’s a great champion. TJ caught me with a beautiful shot,” Roman said. “I couldn’t punch with him. Once I caught him with a big body shot, he started to wear down.”
Roman made it clear after the fight that he wants to face WBC super bantamweight champion Rey Vargas next. He likes that fight. Vargas wants to face him as well. WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete would be a good option as well. He might be the best fighter in the division right now. Vargas is good, but he’s not looking as impressive lately as Navarrete.