WBC super flyweight belt holder Juan Francisco Estrada (40-3, 27 KOs) had a tougher time than expected in beating #14 WBC contender Dewayne Beamon (16-2-1, 11 KOs) by a ninth round knockout on Saturday night at the Centro de Usos Múltiples in Hermosillo, Mexico. The fight was stopped at 0:51 of round 9.
Estrada, 29, hurt Beamon in the seventh with some hard shots. Two rounds later, Estrada finished the job in stopping the 34-year-old Beamon on his feet. Beamon was still fighting back, but the referee halted it anyway.
In round two, Estrada knocked Beamon down twice. In slow motion it looked like Beamon’s feet got tangled with Estrada’s, and that caused both knockdowns. Thankfully, the bungled calls by the referee didn’t change the course of the fight.
Beamon had the better hand speed, and a lot of hard shots on Estrada. Although Estrada won the fight, he didn’t look the invincible guy that some boxing thought he was after his close 12 round decision over former WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. That’s the guy that the fans want to see Estrada fighting again. Beamon was picked for some reason, and he made it entertaining at times tonight.
Other boxing results on the card
Heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic (9-0, 7 KOs) stopped journeyman Manuel Heredia (16-7-1, 13 KOs) by a third round knockout in the co-feature. Hrgovic knocked Heredia down in the third round, and the fight was subsequently stopped. Hrgovic landed some good shots, but so did Heredia. The crowd got into it each time Heredia would land something, and this seemed to motivate him. But for the most part, Heredia wildly missed a lot of his punches.
This wasn’t much of a co-feature given that it was a showcase/mismatch in favor or Hrgovic. Hrgovic is being given a big push by Matchroom Boxing, but they need to do a better job of match-making if they’re going to stick him in the co-feature bouts. Heredia looked like someone that was dragged into the ring from the crowd. He was completely over-matched. With Hrvgovic’s Olympic experience, he should be fighting contenders. Eddie Hearn of Matchtoom recently signed Hughie Fury to his stable. He would have been a good option for tonight’s fight against Hrgoic.
Former WBO 154 pound champion Liam Smith (28-2-1, 16 KOs) beat journeyman Mario Alberto Lozano (33-10, 24 KOs) by a seventh round knockout. Lozano was down in the sixth. In the seventh the fight was stopped. Smith did a lot of pushing to force the smaller Lozano up against the ropes. Smith got hit with a lot of hard shots, and he showed a good chin. He hasn’t improved his defense since losing to WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia last year.
Munguia is going to be moving up to middleweight soon, and that’ll give Smith a chance to go after his WBO belt against one of the contenders possibly. Boxing fans would like to see Smith go after WBC champion Tony Harrison or IBF/WBA champ Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams, but he’s not shown a desire to fight those guys. Smith against Jermell Charlo would be a fun fight.
Other results:
Shakhram Giyasov TKO 1 Darleys Perez
Jono Carroll UD 10 Eleazar Valenzuela
Alexis Espino KO 3 Oscar Soto
Irving Turrubiates UD 10 Neil John Tabano