by James Slater – According to BoxRec, heavyweight contender Jason “Big Six” Estrada will fight for the first time since his admirable but losing effort against unbeaten Russian star Alexander Povetkin on September 2nd. Scheduled to take on the deceptively capable Zuri Lawrence over 8-rounds in Syracuse, New York, 28-year-old Estrada will be looking to get back on the winning track..
Some fans may well say so what with regards to Estrada’s ring return, but the fact is the former Olympian has ability and at least an outside chance of one day winning some sort of belt. Having got his weight under control and having won eight fights in a row since his only other loss as a pro (to Travis Walker), Estrada travelled to Germany back in February and he and Povetkin fought a pretty much even fight for the first five rounds or so.
Hopefully, having seen how his stamina let him down somewhat in the last half of the fight, “Big Six” will have been working on this side of his game ever since he got home. We will see how serious Estrada is by the weight he comes in at against Lawrence, a heavyweight name who, amazingly, has not won a single pro fight by KO!
Far better than this statistic and his 24-14-4 record in general would indicate, the 39-year-old is actually a pretty good fighter. In his last fight, back in August of last year, Lawrence upset Polish big man Albert Sosnowski over eight rounds, winning a split decision in Brooklyn. Sosnoswki, you will recall, is the fighter who went on to flatten British heavyweight Danny Williams and box a draw most people felt he won against unbeaten Italian Franceso Pianeta. Not all that often stopped quickly, Zuri, if sufficiently in shape, motivated and not suffering too badly from ring-rust, could upset Estrada.
Okay, this fight is no soon-to-be-fought classic, but Estrada-Lawrence could well be an entertaining and passionately-fought little battle. Two losses do not end a career, and if Estrada has been working since the points loss to Povetkin, desperate to show he can do better, then he could still be a heavyweight worth watching. Would you put down a ton of money on, say, Tony Thompson or Kevin Johnson defeating him? Probably not, and Thompson has already been rewarded with a shot at a world title.
Don’t write Estrada, 15-2(3) off because of the loss to Povetkin – a man who may well become a world heavyweight ruler in the coming months. Though he’s not a big puncher, the 28-year-old from Rhode Island has good skills, is (or at least has been) more motivated recently and he has a good chin and a good boxing brain. That’s more than you can say about a number of other heavyweights today.