GLENDALE, Ariz. — A Trilogy ended. But the rivalry continues.
Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez 3 was a bout that promised a definitive conclusion. But it didn’t happen. Once again, they proved to be more than rivals. They’re equals
The third bout was much like the second. Estrada won a majority decision Saturday night at Desert Diamond Arena. He won on two scorecards, 116-112 and 115-113. On the third card, it was a draw, 114-114. On the 15 Rounds card, it was also a draw. Anybody for a fourth?
“If he wants the fourth fight, I think we can do it,” Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) said after winning the World Boxing Council’s vacant 115-pound title.
It sounded as if Chocolatito (51-4, 41 KOs) didn’t know what to think.
When asked about a third sequel he joked:
“As long as they pay well.”
For now, however, his future remains uncertain. A 35-year-old fighter coming off a difficult loss is always confronted with one question: What’s next?
“I have to talk to my family,” Chocolatito said.
His legacy is already in place. Among history’s little guys, the skillful Nicaraguan was the first to be ranked No. 1 in the pound-for-pound debate. His spot in the Hall of Fame is already waiting. Even in the wake of Saturday’s defeat, he left the ring with only respect. There will be plenty of debate about the scorecards. But the bout was a critical success. It was a sustained battle between fighters as skillful as any in any weight class.
Caution prevailed throughout most of the first two rounds. Estrada stayed out of range, capitalizing on his superior reach with an effective jab. All the while, Chocolatito maintained a careful, almost deliberate presence. His defense was primary. His gloves were up, protecting his face and head like a fortress. Yet behind that impenetrable mask, there were the calculating eyes of man on a scouting mission. He was searching — hunting — for opportunities to attack.
He began to find them in the third. Suddenly the pace changed. It accelerated. Chocolatito became the aggressor, tirelessly moving forward, shrinking the distance between him and his old rival. Me-hi-co, Me-hi-co, the crowd roared. It was an Estrada crowd, mostly Mexican partisans there in full-throated support of a native son, a fisherman’s son who was born about 215 miles south of Glendale in the Mexican fishing village of Puerto Penasco.
Estrada came into the ring wearing a shirt that said Sonora, his home state in Mexico. But it’s also the name of the desert that stretches from Mexico to the urban sprawl that surrounds Phoenix. For one night at least, this Son of Sonora reigned over the desert and Chocolatito.
They were moments when it looked as if Chocolatito would prevail. He backed Estrada onto the ropes, landing quick, precise shots. At times, Estrada looked off-balance. But he answered every assault with energy in his feet and power shots thrown from a distance. The crowd could see his punches. The judges could score them.
In the end, they were just enough to make a difference, one that would probably be there all over again in a fourth or fifth or sixth fight.
“All fights are difficult and all fights are different,” said Chocolatito, now 1-2 against Estrada over 36 rounds.
Maybe so. But in a third meeting, not a whole lot had changed between two fighters, equal in almost every way.
Julio Cesar Martinez retains WBC title
It was more of a chase than a fight.
Julio Cesar Martinez did all the chasing, pursuing a circling, backpedaling Samuel Carmona.
Round-and-round, they went, a not-so-merry-go-round that ended in boos and probably left Martinez (19-2, 14 KOs) a little dizzy, yet still in possession of the World Boxing Council’s 112-pound belt in the final bout before the Estrada-Chocolatito showdown Saturday night.
Still, the result was a head-scratcher. Martinez won. But only by majority decision. Two judges had it about right, 117-111 and 116-112, both for Martinez. But on Kevin Scott’s card, it was 114-114. A draw. Dizzy.
Carmona would have got a draw only if it had been a footrace. It wasn’t. It was a fight, and Martinez most of that.
Carmona (8-1, 4 KOs), a former Spanish Olympian, never showed a willingness to engage in many punching exchanges, perhaps because of a hand injury. He rarely threw his right hand. The Spaniard had a tattoo of Sugar Ray Leonard’s face on the outside of his left calf. He had some of Leonard’s footwork. But none of his punches.
Diego Pacheco blows out Luna
Diego Pacheco didn’t need much time.
He only needed power.
Pacheco (17-0, 14 KOs), of Los Angeles, had plenty of the latter, wiping out Adrian Luna within two rounds in a super-middleweight bout on the DAZN portion of the Estrada-Chocolatito card.
His long right hand is precise and punishing. It landed quickly and often enough to put Luna (24-9-2, 16 KOs) on the canvas three times. At 2:08 of the round, referee Tony Zaino ended it.
Rosales scores unanimous decision in a unanimous thriller
Forget all those assumptions about flyweights. There’s nothing diminutive about them.
The proof of that began to unfold in a terrific exhibition of little guys with gigantic hearts in the DAZN opener of a card featuring the Lords of the Flies, Juan Francisco Estrada versus Ramon “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, at Desert Diamond Arena.Saturday night.
Cristofer Rosales, a former flyweight champion from Nicaragua, and Joselito Velazquez, of Mexico, delivered some very big surprises in a give-and-take battle in DAZN’s initial bout on the live-stream schedule.
Rosales (35-6, 21 KOs) won it, scoring a unanimous decision. It was 97-93 on all three cards. It was also a unanimous crowd pleaser. Velazquez (15-1-1, 10 KOs) started fast moving forward and firing lightning fast hands at a backpedaling Rosales. After two rounds, it looked as if it would be a rout.
It wasn’t.
Rosales made sure of it, first coming off the ropes like a freight train with heavy handed blows that stopped Velazquez dead in his tracks Rosales would repeat the sequence again in the eighth, all the while landing blows that turned Velazquez’ left eye into a swollen bruise.
In the end, the crowd roared, Velazquez applauded and Rosales celebrated.
The Flies created a buzz.
Austin Williams wins one-sided decision
Austin Williams threw lefts, rights, head-rocking blows and a few questionable ones He screamed. He mocked He taunted.
Translation: Williams (13-0, 9 KOs), of Houston, did whatever he wanted to. Almost. What he didn’t do, however, was bring an early end to a messy 10-round middleweight fight against Simon Madsen (13-1, 10 KOs), a Dane living and training in Cancun
There was no knockout. But it was a rout, a Williams’ victory on cards that were unanimous in his favor and stacked in every way against a Dane whose trunks said Viking. Williams cruised.
Marc Castro wins lopsided decision
Marc Castro’s many dimensions include agile feet, a long jab and sneaky ability to switch from right to left, left to right. It all added up to a few too many dimensions for Mexican lightweight Maikol Lopez in a lopsided decision on Estrada-Chocolatito undercard.
Castro (9-0, 6 KOs), a former national amateur champion from Fresno, confused Lopez (16-4, 8 KOs) early and then began to exhaust him with hooks to the body and rocking rights to the head. By the seventh round, he took a knee. It looked as if he was finished. He wasn’t. He soldiered on through an eighth and final round. But it didn’t matter on the scorecards, unanimous for Castro.
Los Angeles SuperFly Herrera dominates, scoring a third-round TKO
Anthony Herrera calls himself Super-Foo. Forget the Foo. But the Super was there with an overwhelming third-round stoppage Christian Sullivan, a super-flyweight from Casa Grande, Ariz., who had no counter for what Herrera threw at him.
Herrera (4-0-1), of Los Angeles, knocked down Sullivan with a short right early in the third. Suddenly stunned, Sullivan (8-1) dropped his hands. He was defenseless as Herrera stepped up his assault. At 1:44 of the third, his corner ended it.
First Bell: Brazilian Olympic medalist Beatriz Ferriera scores powerful TKO
It began early. Ended early, too.
Beatriz Ferriera, an Olympic silver medalist from Brazil, kicked the Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman Gonzalez show into gear with a powerful start Saturday, stopping Carisse Brown (7-3, 4 KOs) within two rounds at Desert Diamond Arena.
Ferriera (2-0, 1 KO) flashed power in both hands. She drove Brown into the ropes in the first, forcing a stand eight count. She dropped Brown to one knee early in the second. Seconds later, referee Joey Chavez had seen enough. He ended it at 1:20 of the round.
