By Jeff Henninger: Juan Francisco Estrada has been waiting for almost nine years for this moment to avenge his loss to Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez finally, and Saturday night, he’s going to get that opportunity.
(Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom or Melina Pizano/Matchroom)
In Estrada’s view, if he defeats Chocolatito, his record will be back to zero defeats on it instead of three because he’ll have avenged all his losses.
In May 2011, Estrada lost an eight-round decision to Juan Carlos Sanchez. Seven months later, Estrada came back to even the score by stopping Sanchez in the 10th round.
Estrada’s other loss that he would later avenge came at the hands of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2018 in losing a close 12 round majority decision. In 2019, Estrada beat Rungvisai by a 12 round unanimous decision in their rematch.
The oddsmakers have Estrada as the favorite against Chocolatito by a small margin, but that still doesn’t guarantee a win for him. If Estrada fails to get the ‘W’ on Saturday, hopefully, he doesn’t fall apart because he’ll still have a chance to win other world titles. A second defeat would mean that Chocolatito has a bad style for him.
Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs) says he’s going to make it a war when he meets Chocolatito (50-2, 41 KOs) in their 12-round headliner on DAZN at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
In 2012, Chocolatito had his hand raised after beating Estrada by a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight closer than the three judges’ scores. Both fighters have enjoyed a lot of success since that fight and looking unbeatable at times.
Estrada, 30, will have his WBA super flyweight title on the line when he faces WBC champ, Gonzalez in this unification fight. The winner will face WBC mandatory Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in their next fight on DAZN.
Rungvisai (49-5-1, 42 KO) is fighting this Saturday against 38-year-old Ekkawit Songnui (50-7-1, 27 KOs) in a 10-round fight at the Workpoint Studio in Bang Phun, Thailand.
“It’s a fight we’ve been waiting for almost nine years, and we’re not going to waste the opportunity,” Estrada said during Thursday’s news conference. “Chocolate is a great fighter, and may the best man win.
“I have waited a lot, I have three defeats, and I only need this one to go back to being undefeated. I am ready for this fight.
“No doubt it will be a better fight than the first one. It will be a war. Those who see the fight will be the winners. I come focused and motivated to win,” Estrada said.
The last time the two warriors fought, Chocolatito was busier, landing many shots with his combination punching. Estrada had problems with that style of fighting because he wasn’t able to match the high work of Roman.
The impression that some boxing fans have is Estrada believes that he should have won the first fight, but the judges felt that Gonzalez did the better work.
Estrada tried his best, but he was getting lit up by the then 25-year-old Chocolatito, and he couldn’t land enough shots to impress the three judges, who scored it as follows: 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.