Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez 2 this Saturday, March 13

By Boxing News - 03/07/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada will be meeting this Saturday night on March 13th, in the headliner on DAZN from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The action starts at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT on DAZN.

It’s been nine years since Chocolatito (50-2, 41 KOs) defeated Juan Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in November 2012 in Los Angeles, California.

Juan Estrada will have his WBA super flyweight title on the line against WBC champion Chocolatito Gonzalez. The winner will need to face WBC mandatory Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (49-5-1, 41 KOs) next, as long as he wins his fight this Saturday night against Ekkawit Songnui (50-7-1, 27 KOs).

This should be interesting to see how much the 33-year-old Chocolatito Gonzalez has left. It’s widely believed that Gonzalez has lost a lot from his game from the fighter that beat Estrada in 2012.

Whether Chocolatito still has enough left in the tank to beat the 30-year-old Estrada is unknown. Estrada looks pretty much the same as he did when he lost to Chocolatito years ago, but he may be vulnerable to his combinations.

Image: Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Roman “Chocolatito" Gonzalez 2 this Saturday, March 13

After consecutive defeats against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in 2017, it was believed that Chocolatito was washed up. But he’s turned things around with his career since having knee surgery, and he’s looked great in his last four contests.

He’s looked good lately in winning his last four contests against these fighters:

  • Israel Gonzalez
  • Khalid Yafai
  • Diomel Diocos
  • Moises Fuentes

None of those fighters anywhere near the same kind of talent that Juan Estrada possesses. That’s why it’s difficult to know for certain how Chocolatito will handle the firepower of Estrada this Saturday.

Estrada, 30, is still annoyed about the loss, as he believes he should have had his hand raised on the night, but the judges didn’t feel that way. They gave Chocolatito the victory by the scores:

  • 118-110
  • 116-112
  • 116-112

It’s easy to see what made the judges side with Roman Gonzalez in that fight, as he was throwing combinations nonstop throughout the fight, whereas Estrada was throwing single shots.

YouTube video

Attacking in waves of four to six-punch combinations, Chocolatito was too busy for Estrada to keep up with.

Estrada looked superb in his last fight in defeating former WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras by an 11th round knockout last October. Juan Estrada was too much for the past his prime Cuadras.

Since losing to Rungvisai in 2018, Estrada has reeled off five consecutive wins and looked great.

In the undercard, IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO World female welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill (9-2, 3 KOs) will be facing former unified champion Cecilia Braekhus (36-1, 9 KOs) in a rematch of their fight last August.

McCaskill beat Braekhus by a 10 round majority decision to dethrone her.  It was a questionable decision by McCaskill, so it’s good that the two will be fighting again.

WBA light flyweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9 KOs) will be defending against #10 WBA Axel Aragon Vega (14-3-1, 8 KOs)

Image: Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Roman “Chocolatito" Gonzalez 2 this Saturday, March 13

Undercard fights for Saturday’s Estrada vs. Chocolatito 2 card:

  •  Hiroto Kyoguchi vs. Axel Aragon Vega
  • Jessica McCaskill vs. Cecilia Braekhus
  • Souleymane Cissokho vs. Daniel Echeverria
  • Raymond Ford vs. Aaron Perez
  • Movladdin Biyarslanov vs. TBA