By Matt Lieberman: Eddie Hearn is working on a doubleheader involving Juan Franciso Estrada vs. Roman Chocolatito 3 and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs. Carlos Cuadras 2.
The winners of the Estrada-Gonzalez II and Rungvisai-Cuadras II fights will meet later on in the year, possibly depending on how long it takes for Hearn to set up the doubleheader.
If Hearn successfully put the card together, it’ll take place later this year, as Estrada and Chocolatito were involved in a grueling war this month n March 13th in Dallas, Texas. They need time to rest up from that hard fight.
Last week, the World Boxing Council revealed that they’d elevated WBC super flyweight champion ‘El Gallo’ Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) to Franchise champion, and they’ve ordered WBC mandatory Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs) to face #2 Cuadras (39-4-1, 27 KOs) for the vacant WBC 115-lb title.
Former two-time WBC 115-lb champion Rungvisai was supposed to be facing Estrada next following his 12 round split decision win over Chocolatito (50-3, 41 KOs) on March 13th in their match that was shown on DAZN from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
The boxing public wants to see Estrada and Chocolatito fight again for a couple of reasons. One, they weren’t satisfied with the controversial decision by Estrada over Chocolatito, as many of them felt that the decision should have gone the other way.
Additionally, the strange 117-111 score turned in by the judge Carlos Sucre for Estrada put fans off, making them think that Chocolatito never had a chance of winning a decision over the Popular Mexican fighter.
Secondly, the fight was so thrilling to watch that the fans want to see them do it again. Thirdly, Rungvisai doesn’t have the same popularity in the U.S as Chocolatito does, and he wouldn’t attract as much interest from the fans.
If the WBC hadn’t come to the rescue of Estrada by making him the Franchise champion, he likely would have vacated his WBC 115-lb strap and kept his WBA title to then face Chocolatito.
The last thing that Rungvisai wanted was for Estrada to vacate his WBC title. But at least this way, Rungvisai will eventually get a chance to fight the winner of the Estrada vs. Chocolatito fight in a trilogy match at some point.
Rungvisai has already beaten Chocolatito twice, and he’s spit at 1-1 in his two fights with Estrada.
Interestingly, despite being four years older than the 30-year-old Estrada, one year older than the 33-year-old Chocolatito, and two years older than the 32-year-old Cuadras, the 34-year-old Rungvisai looks younger than all of them.
Rungvisai is still pretty much the same fighter that fought Estrada and Chocolatito twice and gave them huge problems.
Cuadras beat Rungvisai by an eighth-round technical decision in May 2014. This isn’t the same Cuadras that beat Rungvisai way back then, however.
If Cuadras will win the rematch with Rungvisai, he’s going to need to use a lot of constant movement and in and out attacks. Cuadras can’t stand there and go to war with Rungvisai and expect to win.
Carlos hasn’t fought since he was knocked out in the 11th round last October.