Boxing
Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada say they're ready for their rematch
When the coronavirus pandemic subsides and boxing can resume, one of the marquee contests out there is a rematch between WBA (Super) super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez and WBC titleholder Juan Francisco Estrada.
Back in November 2012, Gonzalez and Estrada met in an all-action contest that saw "Chocolatito" win by unanimous decision to retain the light flyweight title and run his record to 34-0. Gonzalez (49-2 41 KOs) proceeded to win another 12 consecutive fights before suffering back-to-back losses to Sriskat Sor Rungvisai in March and September 2017. He's now won three in a row, including turning back the clock and looking like the man who many boxing pundits felt was the sport's top pound-for-pound fighter for two years when he stopped Kid Yafai at the end of February to win the WBA belt.
On the debut episode of Jessie Vargas' show "Peleamundo", Gonzalez feels that when he meets Estrada for the second go-around, this is the fight that people will be talking about for years to come.
"I'm a lion in the ring," Gonzalez said. "We put in the work to win, but after we can be friends and everything will go back to normal.
"It's going to be a very good fight. Everyone talks before the fight but all that matters is the day of the fight. We both need to just demonstrate to the public that the lighter weight divisions can put on a good show. We're the ones carrying boxing right now, the smaller weight classes, and when If I fight Estrada, it's going to be historical."
Since the first Gonzalez fight, Estrada (40-3 27 KOs) has gone 14-1 with the sole loss coming to Sor Rungvisai via majority decision in February 2018. Estrada avenged the loss last April, controlling the bulk of the fight to win by unanimous decision and become a two-division world champion. Estrada is of the mindset of when they meet again, he'll do to Gonzalez what he did to Sor Rungvisai.
"I've had three losses, and I've avenged two of them," Estrada said. "I haven't been able to avenge my loss to Gonzalez yet because we never fought again, but hopefully this time around, I will win, and that loss will be avenged as well.
"I don't know Yafai personally. However, I do know Roman, and he's a great champion. I know he had a lot of support from the people of Nicaragua. I was happy for him because he's such a humble person. Without a doubt I was with Roman Gonzalez in that fight. It's been eight years [since the first fight], and I'm very excited for this fight. I believe the people really want to see it as well. I'm a great fighter. It's going to be a great show. It's going to be a better and bigger fight than the bigger weight classes."
