Juan Francisco Estrada makes a split decision in the instant classic with Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez

It would be hard for the two men to experience the level of hobby played by boxing fans on Saturday’s “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada super flyweight weightlifting session on Saturday. Not only did Gonzalez and Estrada live up to their expectations, they overcame them after a split decision that saw Estrada’s hand raised.

Estrada quickly came out of the gate in the opening round, trying to put pressure on Gonzalez and throw the Nicaraguan legend out of his game. The initial success did not hold Estrada long, however, as Gonzalez took the fight until the middle. Gonzalez kept the momentum going, with Estrada responding almost with a hole unloading with clean combinations, even though Gonzalez’s blows seemed more effective on exchanges.

The thrilling action surpassed that of the two men in a fight in 2012, which Gonzalez won unanimously, sending Estrada to his revenge over multiple decades of almost weight-loss. As Gonzalez had the WBA title and Estrada the WBC belt, the last time was a 115-pound competition.

Gonzalez seems to be briefly disappearing around the 6th round, allowing Estrada to get into the fight. For the first time in two fights, Estrada managed to force Gonzalez to walk backwards, breaking the style that once pushed Gonzalez’s pound of pound boxing to the top of the hierarchy.

But Gonzalez would roar in the final rounds, seeing the fighter shoot more than 2,500 combined kicks and land more than 700, following wild and uninterrupted action. Register for a weight class that shows some of the highest volumes in the sport.

After 12 rounds, it was Estrada who fought twice out of the three official scorecards, winning 115-113, 117-111 and 113-115, although it was noted that the 117-111 card was incredibly wide, the narrow card in both directions seemed to be the right result. .

The fight saw the winner shoot Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Gonzalez scored two victories and split two fights with Estrada. After the fight, Estrada seemed ready to back down as willingly as Rungvisai to play the rubber match with Gonzalez.

“I think I’ve done enough to win,” Estrada said. “Choc is a great fighter and I think he deserves a trilogy. … I knew it was a close fight. I didn’t know I was up or down, but I had to close the fight in those last two rounds.

“Rungvisai is mandatory, so I’ll look into that. But any day I’ll get into a third fight with Chocolatito.”

Gonzalez was humble in defeat, but said he had done enough to get the win before calling the trilogy.

“What had to happen had to happen. But I gave it a good fight. I would be happy with the result. I did my job. The only guarantee is the gentleman’s … I won both. [the fights]. Whatever he wants, we will do it. I’m very happy with my performance. “

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