AS if deliberate by the boxing gods to ship a message, it’s considerably apt that the trilogy battle between Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez occurs to fall on the exact same day because the – ahem – trilogy battle between Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora, the 2 separated by oceans, quite a few weight lessons, and a lot extra.
Paired collectively like this and what you’ve got is a research within the distinction between the large guys and the little guys, with the latter at all times within the shadows, alas. Not solely that, within the case of those two explicit fights, we see the marked distinction between a vital trilogy and one which has been pressured upon us as a result of causes pertaining solely to greed and comfort.
The battle between Estrada and Gonzalez, make no mistake, is the one with historical past, integrity, and worth. It’s, one suspects, the end result of a rivalry that stretches all the best way again to 2012, which means this, the third battle, comes virtually precisely 10 years after the primary. That, as a stat, is a testomony to each fighters’ means to maintain competing on the highest stage – a feat even rarer within the case of boxers within the decrease weight lessons – and in addition affords an perception into simply why this rivalry feels so compelling, notably when positioned within the context of what else is going on in boxing this weekend.
Ten years in the past, when assembly for the primary time, Gonzalez, from Nicaragua, was the WBA light-flyweight belt-holder and Estrada, from Mexico, was a hard-hitting contender whose solely professional loss was an eight-round resolution towards Juan Carlos Sanchez in his homeland in 2011. It appeared, on the time, that Gonzalez, then 33-0, was maybe a bit too skilled for Estrada and this assumption rang true on the night time itself, with Gonzalez examined however nonetheless comparatively snug, successful a unanimous resolution on the bout’s conclusion (118-110, 116-112, 116-112).
That was to be Estrada’s first title shot, although it might not be his final. Actually, in his very subsequent battle he was once more within the combine for titles, solely now he was competing as a super-flyweight, a division by which he dethroned Brian Viloria simply 5 months after dropping towards Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, in the meantime, additionally moved up in weight, first to flyweight. It was certainly there that he really established himself as a contemporary nice, successful the WBC belt towards Akira Yaegashi in Japan in 2014 earlier than occurring to defend it 4 instances. After that, he too moved to super-flyweight, the place he conquered Carlos Cuadras in a 2016 traditional after which, in his subsequent battle, hit the primary actual tough patch of his profession.
Adversity, for Gonzalez, got here within the type of Thailand’s Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, who, in 2017, managed to beat “Chocolatito” not as soon as however twice. He beat him the primary time by resolution, as large a shock as there was that calendar yr, after which repeated the trick within the rematch six months later, solely this time the outcome was much more emphatic, with Sor Rungvisai stopping Gonzalez in simply 4 rounds.
Again then, with Gonzalez a person of 30 (thought of “previous” for a super-flyweight), most presumed we had seen the final of one among boxing’s nice technicians. He appeared, on that night time towards Sor Rungvisai, to be sluggish, all out of concepts, and, most worryingly of all, not in a position to take up the punches he had taken from Sor Rungvisai of their vicious first encounter earlier that very same yr. Some, the extra optimistic amongst us, prayed it was only a stylistic challenge, and that Gonzalez had merely met his antidote, his kryptonite, his bogeyman. But the consensus view was that Gonzalez had had his time and that now it was time for others, like Sor Rungvisai, and like a sure Mexican with whom Gonzalez had historical past, to take over and construct on all the great work he had beforehand completed within the decrease weight lessons.
That very same yr – that very same night time, in actual fact – Juan Francisco Estrada was solidifying his standing as one of many world’s premier super-flyweights by defeating fellow Mexican, and one other of the highest contenders, Carlos Cuadras through resolution. A breakthrough second in his profession, this proved to be the assertion win Estrada wanted following a run of 9 straight victories since dropping towards Gonzalez again in 2012. He confirmed, in beating Cuadras, that he was able to once more compete towards the division’s very elite, which meant, after seeing what Sor Rungvisai did to Gonzalez within the rematch, his path would result in the hard-hitting Thai in 2018.
That ended up being a battle some felt was controversial, given it concluded with a majority resolution going the best way of Sor Rungvisai after 12 rounds. But undoubtedly, in mild of the benefit with which Sor Rungvisai had dealt with Gonzalez, Estrada, in being so aggressive with Sor Rungvisai, had proven his capabilities and really arrived as a pressure at that form of stage. It appeared virtually inevitable, too, that this might not be the tip of the connection between the pair. They’d certainly meet once more.
They usually did, a yr later in 2019. This time, not like earlier than, Estrada left nothing to likelihood and attacked Sor Rungvisai with the form of depth for which he’s identified, finally taking his WBC belt with a unanimous resolution victory to even the rating.
By that stage, Roman Gonzalez, the fighter whose epitaph had already been written by some, was again on his ft once more and again in motion. To his credit score, he took a yr off after that second loss towards Sor Rungvisai, after which returned in a low-key and smart method, reserving pretty simple fights towards Moises Fuentes and Diomel Diocos and successful them each – the primary inside 5 rounds, the second inside two. These weren’t, it’s true, notably taxing affairs for Gonzalez, however that was in fact not the purpose. The thought in pursuing them was to easily check the waters and, simply as essential, restore the boldness presumably shattered by Sor Rungvisai in 2017.
As an train on this, it labored. Higher but, by the point Gonzalez was able to step again as much as one thing resembling world stage in 2020, he was greater than prepared for it.
His opponent for that return was to be England’s Khalid Yafai, a fighter unbeaten in 26 bouts who, on the time, held a WBA super-flyweight strap. On paper a battle bought as a passing of the torch, particularly within the eyes of Yafai and his workforce, what was to later unfold in actuality was fairly the other. As an alternative, moderately than a passing of the torch, Gonzalez vs. Yafai would supply one of many best examples of a calculated gamble backfiring and a younger champion severely overestimating the extent to which an previous legend had pale.
Certainly, what occurred that night time was that Gonzalez first gave Yafai a boxing lesson, successful the vast majority of the rounds they shared, after which, as if that was not sufficient, completed the battle with a devastating proper hand in spherical 9. As full a efficiency as you’re more likely to discover, Gonzalez hadn’t simply halted the progress of an undefeated and closely hyped future star. He had additionally breathed contemporary life into his personal profession; the ultimate chapter of which he was now nearly to enter.
Subsequent up for him was a battle on October 23, 2020, towards Israel Gonzalez, an underrated contender. He received that one, too this time by unanimous resolution, and watched on that very same card Juan Francisco Estrada, his previous foe, steal the present with a surprising eleventh spherical stoppage of Carlos Cuadras, a person acquainted to each of them. These two wins, coming as they did on the identical night time, then set the wheels in movement for a rematch between Gonzalez and Estrada, this time with Estrada the one seemingly within the prime of his preventing life.
Estrada, in actual fact, had misplaced simply as soon as since that Gonzalez defeat in 2012. He was, not like the primary time they met, an skilled, seasoned campaigner with all of the self-belief of somebody who had confronted and crushed among the greatest super-flyweights on the earth. The one one he to this point hadn’t crushed was, in fact, Roman Gonzalez.
Curiously, too, whereas earlier than Gonzalez was the fighter coming into his prime and Estrada was the one nonetheless discovering his ft as a professional, second time round there was a perception that Gonzalez, for nearly as good as his kind had been post-Sor Rungvisai, remained a fighter, sadly, approaching his curtain name. This, on paper, appeared to offer Estrada the sting, regardless of Gonzalez having crushed him earlier than, and when it got here time for the pair to reunite in March 2021, this will likely have in the long run been the distinction.
Whether or not true or not, Estrada in the end received the nod, narrowly, after 12 frenetic and engaging rounds. He did so through a break up resolution (117-111, 115-113, 113-115), however the battle was so good, and the respective performances so robust, no person got here away from it feeling as if both man had come up brief or disenchanted. Furthermore, such was the character of each the battle and its scorecards, it appeared solely pure that they might sooner or later reconvene, hopefully, for Gonzalez’s sake, sooner moderately than later.
For, in spite of everything, as a lot as Gonzalez, now 35, continues to confound the doubters and dazzle us together with his longevity, it’s certainly solely a matter of time earlier than we witness a repeat of that second Sor Rungvisai loss with no subsequent miracle to observe. Three years Estrada’s senior, Gonzalez, 51-3 (41), possibly has yet one more journey to the properly left in him. Or no less than that’s what we hope.
Actually, as he prepares to go there towards Estrada once more this weekend in Glendale, Arizona, we want him to get there and again safely. If he can, as he did so admirably with Estrada in 2021, we might be in for a battle each bit as magnetic and ferocious as that back-and-forth rematch. If, nonetheless, he can’t, and if that 2021 brawl proves to have been one too many, there may be each likelihood Estrada, 43-3 (28), completes this trilogy with the form of exhibiting we noticed him produce towards Cuadras once they met for a second time in 2020.
The excellent news for Gonzalez, and all who proceed to consider in miracles, is that even in 2022 he exhibits no signal of regression. Somewhat, as he demonstrated towards Julio Cesar Martinez in March, there may be lots he can nonetheless train the subsequent technology, and lots he can nonetheless provide himself. He was, in actual fact, close to faultless that night time towards the unbeaten Mexican and once more, as with Yafai, it was a battle ostensibly put collectively to allow a younger up-and-comer to announce himself on the large stage.
That by no means occurred, although, and Gonzalez, one suspects, may most likely battle till he’s 40 allotting related classes to upstarts unlikely to ever be as clever or ring savvy as he. It’s within the form of Estrada, nonetheless, that he finds the true check of his capabilities at 35. It’s within the form of Estrada he’ll, on Saturday night time, maybe discover somebody a bit too good, and a bit too assured, for the Gonzalez story to obtain the blissful ending he, and all who observe him, thinks it deserves. He’ll battle arduous for it, little doubt, and can push Estrada all the best way, however the protected guess is Estrada on factors, sufficient to offer him a 2-1 edge in a fairly good three-fight sequence.
The Glendale undercard is dominated by little males, the spotlight of which will probably be Julio Cesar Martinez, 18-2 (14), making an attempt to bounce again from that loss to Roman Gonzalez earlier this yr with a battle towards Spain’s Samuel Carmona, 8-0 (4), scheduled for 12 rounds at flyweight. There’s additionally one other battle at flyweight between unbeaten Mexican Joselito Velasquez, 15-0-1 (10), and Nicaragua’s Cristofer Rosales, 34-6 (21), which is about for 10.
