By Aragon Garcia: Negotiations have begun for a rematch between super flyweight champions Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Franciso Estrada for a unification fight. Zanfer Promotions’ Fernando Beltran, who co-promotes Estrada (40-3, 27 KOs) is looking to put the fight together, according to Michael Benson.
Chocolatito Gonzalez (49-2, 41 KOs) will have his newly won WBA 115-lb title on the line when he faces WBC super flyweight champion Estrada in a unification fight later this year.
Boxing fans have been waiting for almost a decade for Gonzalez and Estrada to fight again, and finally, they’re about it. This should prove to be an excellent match-up between two of the best fighters in the 115-lb division. The winner of the Gonzalez vs. Estrada fight will have Srisaket Sor Rungvisai to deal with.
Gonzalez turned his career around
This, like all scheduled fights in 2020, will depend on the coronavirus pandemic letting it go ahead. The former four-division world champion Chocolatito revived his career last month in stopping previously unbeaten WBA World super flyweight champion Kal Yafai (26-1, 15 KOs) in the 9th round on February 29 in Frisco, Texas.
Yafai had been looking for a career-defining fight, but he fell apart when he stepped it up against the talented Nicaraguan Gonzalez. The difference in the pedigree was obvious right off the bad. Gonzalez was a far better fighter. Yafai took the fight with Gonzalez at the wrong time in his career when he was no longer making the 115-lb limit easily and had outgrown the division.
Going into that fight, many people in the boxing world assumed that Yafai would be too big and too young for the 32-year-old Gonzalez, but they were proven wrong. Gonzalez’s two defeats to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and his poor showing against Carlos Cuadras gave boxing fans the impression that he was over-the-hill.
Roman admitted that he went into the fights with Rungvisai without a game plan, and just tried to outslug him. That was a mistake that cost him both fights, although some would argue that Gonzalez deserved the victory in the first fight.
Chocolatito beat Estrada in 2012
Eight years ago, Gonzalez defeated Estrada by a 12 round unanimous decision on November 17, 2012, at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. The scores were 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112. Some boxing fans felt the fight was a lot closer than the scores handed down. Other fans thought Estrada did enough to deserve the win.
Estrada came on strong in the later rounds to give Chocolatito a lot of problems, but he was owned by him in the first 7 rounds. Gonzalez landed a lot of powerful combinations that had Estrada reeling. Estrada’s superior stamina enabled him to come back later in the right when Roman started to tire, and he took advantage of that.
The fight took place in the 108-lb weight class, and Gonzalez looked drained from having made weight. This was the last time Gonzalez fought at 108, as he moved up to flyweight [112 lbs] after that, and he was a lot more effective in that division.
In 2016, Gonzalez moved up to super flyweight [115], and he’s won 4 and lost 2 in the division. He’s good at this weight class, and we’ll see how well he does against Estrada. That should be a real war from start to finish.
