Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez is now agreed by both fighters and likely heading towards November. WBA/WBC super flyweight champion Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) has signed his portion of the contract, and Chocolatito’s promoter has reportedly agreed to the fight in writing, according to ESPN.
The former four-division world champion Roman Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) and Estrada were supposed to be fighting next month on October 16th. Still, unfortunately, Chocolatito tested positive for COVID-19, and the fight needed to be moved back.
Estrada vs. Chocolatito 3 in November
Estrada and Roman Gonzalez met earlier this year in an exciting 12 round war in Dallas, Texas, on March 13th, which ended with Juan Francisco winning a questionable split decision.
That was a fight that many boxing fans had Chocolatito winning, as he was taking the action to Estrada and getting the better of him with his combination punching.
However, Texas and California are where Estrada’s fans are located in huge numbers, so it’s not surprising that he got the win over Chocolatito.
What was surprising is that the fans booed the fight’s results afterward, letting the judges and Estrada know that they viewed Chocolatito as the rightful winner of that fight.
Given the controversy of the last Estrada vs. Chocolatito fight, they must choose a venue in neutral, as it would be bad for boxing if the Nicaraguan native Gonzalez is on the receiving end of another controversial result.
The win for Estrada gave him Gonzalez’s WBA 115-lb title, making him a two-belt champ at super flyweight.
Estrada’s victory avenged his earlier 12 round unanimous loss to Roman from November 2012, a fight in the 108-lb division.
Some boxing fans believed that Estrada had done enough to deserve the win over Chocolatito in their first fight, but this writer isn’t one of them. Chocolatito’s combination punching made him a clear winner.
What’s odd is the rematch between Chocolatito and Estrada last March played out identically as the first fight. Still, this time the judges gave it to Juan Francisco instead of Roman.
It just shows you how important it is to stage fights in neutral venues, so you don’t get the wacky scoring as we saw for the Gonzalez vs. Estrada 2 rematch.
Staging the Estrada-Gonzalez 3 fight in California or Texas would be a mistake. It would make money in those states, but Chocolatito might wind up on the receiving end of another set of strange scores that don’t match the fight.
Mikey Garcia vs. Sandor Martin on October 16th
The October 16th on DAZN will now be headlined by Mikey Garcia vs. Sandor Martin, another disappointing tune-up fight for the former division champion.
Mikey, 33, obviously feels he needs another tune-up after sitting out of the ring for the last 19 months, but he should have returned a long time ago to the ring. At this point, many boxing fans question whether Mikey cares about competing anymore.
They believe he’s just looking for paydays against either weak tune-up level competition or guys that are completely out of his class, like Errol Spence Jr and Manny Pacquiao.
This fight probably won’t bring in many new subscribers to DAZN, but you never know. Maybe the boxing public won’t care that Mikey is facing someone they’re not familiar with.
“Estrada signed the contract for the trilogy fight, per sources. Gonzalez’s promoter, Mr. Honda, committed to the fight in writing. The 115-pound title bout could now land in November,” said @MikeCoppinger.