Even Juan Francisco Estrada seemed surprised to hear Michael Buffer announce that he had won another rematch on Saturday night.
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez apparently overtook Estrada in their terrible fight, but two judges scored their thrilling 12-round, 115-pound championship match for Estrada. Judge Jesse Reyes credited Gonzalez with a 115-113 victory, but was overturned by Judges Carlos Sucre (117-111) and David Sutherland (115-113) in the main event at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Sucre somehow scored nine rounds for Estrada in Mexico, which won seven rounds according to Sutherland. Reyes scored seven rounds for Gonzalez of Nicaragua, who lost a split decision.
“I think I’ve done enough to win,” Estrada told Chris Mannix of DAZN during the post-fight interview in the ring. “Chocolatito is a great fighter and I think he deserves the trilogy. I knew it was a close fight. I didn’t know if I was up or down [through 10 rounds], but had to end the fight in the last two rounds. ”
CompuBox counted another 74 punches overall for Gonzalez, which they credited for landing Estrada, 391-317. Gonzalez got more power shots (352-297) and more shots (39-17) than Estrada, according to CompuBox.
CompuBox also credited Gonzalez (1,317) and Estrada (1,212) for throwing more combined punches – 2,529 – in this fight than any other 115-pound fight the company was pursuing.
Estrada’s questionable win could lead to a possible rubber match with the former king for pounds.
Regardless, Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) retained his WBC super flyweight title and took the 115-pound WBA championship from Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs). The 30-year-old Estrada also avenged the last of his three professional defeats, defeating Gonzalez, who defeated Estrada by unanimous decision in the fight for the 12-kilogram, 108-kilogram title. in November 2012 in Los Angeles.
By Saturday night, he had already defeated Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr., the first and third opponents to defeat Estrada.
His victory over Gonzalez moved Estrada to a third fight against Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs). The Thai Southpaw is the obligatory challenger for the WBC belt that Estrada took by winning a unanimous decision in 12 rounds in April 2019 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Sor Rungvisai was the only opponent who defeated Gonzalez before Estrada defeated him.
Gonzalez was his typical graceful self in defeat.
“Everything that happened had to happen, but we fought really well,” Gonzalez said. “I would have been happy in every way with the result. I did my job. The only guarantee is from the gentleman. “
Gonzalez and Estrada took him out in an absurd rhythm in the 12th round. Gonzalez’s right hand stunned Estrada with just under 50 seconds left until the second fight.
Estrada returned, however, to throw heavy blows at Gonzalez, but could not injure Gonzalez.
Estrada landed with his right hand at the beginning of the 11th stage. They exchanged punches for the rest of an 11 action-packed round.
Gonzalez landed numerous short shots as he battled Estrada inside during the 10th round. Estrada was not as accurate as Gonzalez in those three minutes.
An aggressive Gonzalez connected with several straight hands in the first two minutes of the ninth round. A left hand from Gonzalez put Estrada in balance with just under 40 seconds until the ninth round.
A right-left combination of Gonzalez landed with about 10 seconds on the clock in the eighth. Estrada followed Gonzalez for most of the eighth, but did not land many clean shots in those three minutes.
Estrada threw Gonzalez with his right hand about 45 seconds into the seventh round. Estrada got hit hard, often in combination, later in the seventh round, but Gonzalez fired many times with his fists.
Estrada got a right uppercut that made Gonzalez retreat and leave in his left eye, with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. A right-left combination of Estrada landed about 35 seconds to the end, which was an impressive sixth round for him.
Gonzalez and Estrada fought at a strong pace in the first half of the fifth round. Gonzalez beat Estrada with his right hand at about 1:20 to go into the fifth.
Pabon warned Gonzalez for a low shot, with just over 40 seconds left in the fifth round.
Estrada’s four-fist combination connected with 1:25 to go into the fourth round. Moments later, Gonzalez drilled Estrada with his right hand.
Gonzalez landed another right hand a few seconds later, supporting Estrada on the ropes.
Estrada followed his left hook to the body with a left hook up, about 1:20 until the third round. A right hand from Estrada supported Gonzalez in the last 10 seconds of the third round.
A right hand from Estrada hit Gonzalez in the ropes with just under a minute in the second round. A left-right combination of Gonzalez landed just after the middle of the second round.
Estrada and Gonzalez missed most of their fists during the first tactical round.
Keith Idec is the lead writer / columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be contacted on Twitter @Idecboxing.