By Jeff Aronow: Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, Julio Cesar Martinez, Carlos Cuadras, and Juan Francisco Estrada will be sharing a card on DAZN in mid-October, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
The former four-division world champion Chocolatito (49-2, 41 KOs) will be defending his WBA Super World 115-pound title against an opponent still to be determined.
For his part, WBC champion Estrada (40-3, 27 KOs) will be defending against former WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (39-3-1, 27 KOs) in a rematch from their fight in 2017.
Hearn giving DAZN a great card
Rounding out the card will be the exciting WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez (16-1, 12 KOs) facing an opponent still to be determined.
The likely purpose of Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn of sticking all these great fights on one card is to mix and match them up against each other later. Hearn plans on pitting Chocolatito and Juan Estrada against each other at a later date when fans are allowed back into events.
“We have one card that will be in the middle of October, which will be [Juan Francisco] Estrada, ‘Chocolatito’ [Roman Gonzalez] and Julio Cesar Martinez,” said Hearn to ESPN.
If Chocolatito and Estrada win their matches in October, they “will fight each other in a unification fight in February or March of next year.”
There’s a great deal of interest in seeing Gonzalez, 33, and ‘El Gallo’ Estrada mix it up a second time after two battled in an exciting war back in November 2012.
Chocolatito won a decisive 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112. However, Estrada has improved a great deal since then, and Chocolatito isn’t quite as good as he was back then fought at light flyweight [108-lbs].
The other probable reason why Hearn is packing all these great fights on the same card is to give DAZN value to help them bring in subscribers.
With the low mismatches that we’ve seen from Golden Boy Promotions involving Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia being put in with woefully deficient opposition in fights, fans weren’t eager to see Hearn making sure he doesn’t fall into the same trap with his Matchroom cards.
The name of the game is competitive match-making, and Hearn is doing that with his October card with Chocolatito, Estrada, Cuadras,, and Martinez.
Chocolatito looking for 4th consecutive win
Gonzalez has turned his career around with three consecutive victories after being given up on by a lot of boxing fans after his two defeats against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2017.
After knee surgery, Gonzalez looks like a new man, blasting through his last three opponents Khalid Yafai, Moises Fuentes, and Diomel Diocos like they were butter.
Chocolatito’s 9th round knockout win over previously unbeaten WBA super flyweight champion Kal Yafai on February 29th of this year was a sensational performance, showing a side of him that fans hadn’t seen in a long time.
It was a wholly rejuvenated Chocolatito that went out there that night and took Yafai, an excellent fighter, to school in dominating from start to finish.
Estrada took care of Roman Gonzalez’s problem opponent Srisaket Sor Rungvisai last year in April, beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in Los Angeles, California.
It was an impressive performance by Estrada, who showed the proper way to deal with a slugger like Rungvisai by using movement, fast combination punching, and in and out style. Gonzalez failed to fight that way against Rungvisai in their two fights in 2017.
Instead of using movement against Rungvisai, Gonzalez stood and slugged with the bigger, stronger fighter, and he paid for it in losing twice.
Many boxing fans felt that Chocolatito deserved the win in the first fight with Rungvisai, but he was so beaten up by the end of the 12th, it’s not surprising that the judges gave it to the Thailand fighter.
Juan Estrada schooled Rungvisai
Estrada boxed a beautiful fight against Rungvisai in defeating him by the following scores 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112. In their first fight in 2018, Rungvisai edged Estrada in beating him by a 12 round majority decision in February 2018.
Former WBC 115-lb champion Cuadras has won his last three fights since losing to McWilliams Arroyo and Juan Estrada in consecutive contests in 2017 and 2018. It wasn’t a shocker for Cuadras to get beaten by Estrada three years ago, but the defeat to Arroyo was the one that was hard to deal with given his early carrer success.
Cuadras wasn’t even competitive against Arroyo in that fight, and this is someone that he likely would have beaten if he’d fought him a couple of years earlier. When Cuadras was at his best, he was beating everyone that they would put in front of him. For example, Cuadras easily out-boxed Rungvisai by a 12 decision in 2014.
Where Cuadras began to have problems is when he lost a grueling 12 round decision to Roman Gonzalez in 2016. Although Cuadras gave Gonzalez a lot of issues in that fight, he took a hammering himself, and that seemed to take a lot out of him.
Carlos Cuadras gave Estrada problems
Cuadras just narrowly lost a 12 round unanimous decision against Estrada in September 2017. The scores were 114-113, 114-113, and 114-113. In this fight, Cuadras wasn’t nearly as sharp as he’d been in his matches against Rungvisai, Chocolatito, and Luis Concepcion. Even Cuadras, not at his best, was good enough almost to beat Estrada.
In Carlos’s last three fights, he’s beaten Jose Maria Cardenas, Daniel Lozano, and Ricardo Nunez. The reason why Cuadras is getting a rematch with Estrada is because of how close their match was in 2017. Also, it doesn’t hurt that both guys are well known.
WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez is coming off of an exciting 12 round war against Jay Harris last February. That was an entertaining fight to watch, as Martinez fought an opponent with outstanding boxing skills in Harris, and he had to solve his style.
It wasn’t easy for Martinez to do, as he was getting hit a lot, and he had to use his combination punching and pressure to wear down the British fighter. Martinez sealed the victory in the championship rounds in dropping Harris with a body shot in the 10th. In Martinez’s previous fight, he stopped Cristofer Rosales in the 9th last December in Phoenix.
Julio Cesar Martinez not choosy
Hearn said that every fighter that he offered Martinez for his next match, he agreed to. Martinez wasn’t saying, ‘no’ to any of the guys that he was offering to him. WBA flyweight champion Artem Dalakian is one of the guys that Hearn asked Martinez about. However, it’s unclear if those two will be fighting in October.
Boxing fans would be up for a rematch between Julio Cesar Martinez and Jay Harris, if possible. That would be an incredible fight and worthy of being in the main event on its own.
Harris gained a lot of popularity from his fight with Martinez from earlier this year. Would he be willing to face him again? He took a lot of punishment from Martinez, and he might not be ready to battle him a second time so soon.
