Even Juan Francisco Estrada seemed surprised when he heard Michael Buffer announce that he had already won another rematch on Saturday night.
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez seemed to outsmart Estrada in their great fight, but two judges scored their thrilling 12-round, 115-pound championship match for Estrada. Judge Jesse Reyes attributed Gonzalez a 115-113 victory, but he was overruled by Judges Carlos Sucre (117-111) and David Sutherland (115-113) in the main draw at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Sucre somehow scored nine rounds ahead of Mexico’s Estrada, who won seven rounds, according to Sutherland. Reyes scored seven rounds for Gonzalez from Nicaragua, who lost a split decision.
“I think I’ve done enough to win,” Estrada told DAZN’s Chris Mannix during his 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 I had to end the fight in the last two rounds. “
CompuBox counted a total of 74 more punches for Gonzalez, who they credited with outlanding Estrada, 391-317. Gonzalez landed more power punches (352-297) and more jabs (39-17) than Estrada, according to CompuBox.
CompuBox also credited Gonzalez (1,317) and Estrada (1,212) for throwing more punches combined – 2,529 – in this fight than any other 115-pound fight the company has tracked.
Estrada’s debatable victory could lead to an eventual rubber match with the former pound-for-pound king.
Regardless, Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) retained his WBC super flyweight title and took the WBA 115lb championship from Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs). 30-year-old Estrada also avenged the last of his three professional defeats by beating Gonzalez, who unanimously defeated Estrada in their 12-round, 108-pound title fight in November 2012 in Los Angeles.
Before Saturday night, he already had Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. defeated, the first and third opponent to defeat Estrada.
His win over Gonzalez brought Estrada to a third fight against Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs). The Thai left-handed is the mandatory challenger for the WBC belt that Estrada took from him by winning a unanimous 12-round decision at The Forum in Inglewood, California in April 2019.
Sor Rungvisai was the only opponent to beat Gonzalez before Estrada beat him.
Gonzalez was his quintessentially graceful self in defeat.
“Whatever happened had to be done, but I fought it great,” Gonzalez said. “I would have been happy with the result anyway. I did my job. The only guarantee is from the lord. “
Gonzalez and Estrada beat it out at an absurd pace on lap 12. A right hand from Gonzalez stunned Estrada with just under 50 seconds to go in their second fight.
Estrada still came back to throw hard shots at Gonzalez, but he couldn’t hurt Gonzalez.
Estrada landed a right hand early on the 11th round. They traded powerful punches for the remainder of an action-packed 11th round.
Gonzalez landed numerous short shots while fighting Estrada from the inside during the 10th round. Estrada was not nearly as accurate as Gonzalez in those three minutes.
An aggressive Gonzalez made contact with several right hands in the first two minutes of the ninth round. Gonzalez’s left hand knocked Estrada off balance with just under 40 seconds to go in the ninth round.
A right-left combination from Gonzalez landed with about 10 seconds left on the clock in the eighth round. Estrada chased Gonzalez for much of the eighth round, but he didn’t land many clean punches in those three minutes.
Estrada shot Gonzalez with a right hand about 45 seconds into the seventh round. Estrada took hard shots later in the seventh round, often in combination, but Gonzalez often fired back with his own powerful punches.
Estrada landed a right uppercut causing Gonzalez to step back and engage his left eye with his claw with about 1:20 left in the sixth round. A right-left combination from Estrada landed with about 35 seconds to go in what was an impressive sixth lap for him.
Gonzalez and Estrada fought at a blistering pace in the first half of the fifth round. Gonzalez nailed Estrada with a right hand with about 1:20 to go in the fifth.
Pabon warned Gonzalez for a low blow with just over 40 seconds left in the fifth round.
Estrada’s combination of four punches finished 1:25 in the fourth round. Moments later, Gonzalez Estrada drilled with a right hand.
Gonzalez landed another right hand a few seconds later that drove Estrada into the ropes.
Estrada followed his left hook to the body with a left hook up top with about 1:20 to go in the third round. A right hand from Estrada supported Gonzalez in the last 10 seconds of the third round.
A right hand from Estrada slammed Gonzalez into the ropes by just under a minute on the second round. A left-right combination from Gonzalez landed just after the middle of the second round.
Estrada and Gonzalez missed most of their punches in what amounted to a tactical first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer / columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.