Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez ’embarrassed’ over scoring for Juan Franciso Estrada fight

By Boxing News - 03/15/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Former four-division world champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez says he was embarrassed about the scoring for his rematch with WBA super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada last Saturday night.

It a fight that Chocolatito (50-3, 41 KOs) won in the eyes of many boxing fans, fighters, and promoters, two of the judges scored the match in Estrada.

Sadly, it wasn’t bad enough that Chocolatito was arguably robbed of his well-earned victory; one of the judges made it worse by scoring it 117-110 in favor of Estrada gave the impression that the fight was a mismatch.

That judge, Carlos Sucre, saw the 33-year-old Gonzalez winning only three rounds in the entire fight. Was that judge confused on which of the two fighters was Chocolatito?

I mean, that’s the only way that made sense for the judge to have turned in such a side score in Estrada’s favor. If anyone deserved a 9-3 score, it was Chocolatito because he totally outclassed Estrada just as he’d done in their first fight in 2012.

Image: Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez 'embarrassed' over scoring for Juan Franciso Estrada fight

That dreadful 117-111 score epitomized what the talented Nicaraguan warrior Chocolatito was up against on the night. He wasn’t just fighting Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs), he was fighting the judges as well, and he could never win.

“No, I’m not happy; I’m a bit embarrassed,” said Chocolatito to Fino Boxing.

So there it is. Chocolatito was literally embarrassed by the woeful scoring by the judges that gave the fight to Estrada, and he’s not happy because he knows he won the fight.

After 53 contests as a professional, Roman knows when he’s done enough to deserve a victory, and it was clear to him that he should have had his hand raised last Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

“I feel happy, I won this fight,” said Chocolatito to DAZN. “People expected a warrior fight. You try so hard to give an excellent fight, and results like this are disappointing.

The good news is that we could see Estrada and Chocolatito meet up for a rematch in their next fight. Eddie Hearn, the promoter for Estrada, said he’d talk to him to see if he’s interested in facing Choclatito again.

“This didn’t age well, but Estrada did not win,” said promoter Lou DiBella in reacting to the controversial results of last Saturday’s rematch.

“The wide card was absurd and fictitious, and the wrong man won. I know what I saw, and Roman Gonzalez got hosed.”

Image: Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez 'embarrassed' over scoring for Juan Franciso Estrada fight

Estrada has a mandatory defense due against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, a fight that would give him a nice payday.

It’s unclear whether it’s worthwhile for Estrada to vacate his WBC title to face Chocolatito right away because it could make things tricky when it comes to the Rungvisai fight later on. If Estrada vacates his WBC title, Rungvisai will pick up the title, and it’ll change the dynamics of their trilogy.

Instead of Estrada defending against Rungvisai as a champion, he would potentially be facing him in a unification. Of course, that’s assuming that Estrada beats Chocolatito in their trilogy.

At this point, Chocolatito has to be seen as the favorite in the third fight against Estrada because he clearly is the better fighter.

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