Elite Pound-For-Pound Boxers Rematch On March 13

Pound-For-Pound Stars and all-time greats of the sport Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada will participate in their much-anticipated rematch of their thrilling, legendary 2012 FOTY Contender on March 13. Estrada Chocolatito 1 was at 108 pounds for the WBA Title with both fighters relatively unknown.

This time the stakes are much higher: it is a super fight. It’s a two-weight world champion, the #1 115-pounder and P4P Top 10 vs a Four-Weight World champion and former universally recognised P4P #1. Estrada Chocolatito will be for the WBA (super) WBC, Ring and Lineal Super-Flyweight Belts. It will be by far the best fight to land on DAZN since their entrance into boxing and first significant fight.

With WBO Champion Kazuto Ioka’s 8th-round TKO over one of the rising stars of the sport in Kosei Tanaka, the super-flyweight division is at it’s liveliest and most competitive and the winner will have huge clashes ahead of him. The Estrada Chocolatito winner will eye four-weight King Ioka and IBF Champion Jerwin Ancajas but will first have to battle WBC Mandatory Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

Estrada Chocolatito 2: A Guaranteed Fight of the Year Contender?

Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez first met in 2012 at the Sports Arena, Los Angeles for Gonzalez’s WBA Light Flyweight crown. Estrada was a big underdog but still put up a good account of himself losing by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 118-110) in a FOTY battle.

Both men came out of the fight strong with Gonzalez becoming boxing’s pound-for-pound king and  Estrada establishing himself as an elite fighter as well as growing his large Mexican fan following and rated P4P. However, this time it is a very different fight and could have a significantly different result.

‘Chocolatito’ is no longer the fighter he once was and is now 33 and far off his prime while Estrada is no longer a young, inexperienced novice and is now 30 years old, in the prime of his canner and has spent the better part of a decade developing his boxing skills and counter-punching game which have made him a slight favourite in the long-time-coming Estrada Chocolatito rematch.

After his loss to Gonzalez, Estrada rebuilt fairly quickly, moving up in weight and winning the unified titles in an upset victory of Brian Viloria. He went onto make 5 defences of his belts against top contenders before his ‘Mexican war’ with Carlos Cuadras at the StubHub in 2017 which gained him a lot of notoriety and further grew his fanbase in the United States.

Estrada attempted to become a two-weight champion against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (who is his current mandatory) but lost a majority decision. The pair met again at the Forum, Inglewood where Estrada sought revenge winning a slightly more convincing unanimous decision which saw him become a two-weight world champion as well as announcing him as the #1 Super-Flyweight and P4P Top 10 Boxer.

Estrada has since made two defences of his titles in his active Mexico under the Matchroom banner. Estrada Chocolatito was demanded immediately after Gonzalez’s resurgence and was marinated in a world title tripleheader featuring both Estrada and Chocolatito in tough fights as well as young, rising star Julio Cesar Martinez who may be a future opponent for the winner.

Chocolatito almost retired from the sport of boxing after back to back defeats to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai which included a shocking, devastating knockout defeat in the rematch which seemed unfathomable considering the Nicaraguan’s Iron chin. After 2 low-profile fights in 2018 and ’19, Gonzalez got one last shot against undefeated British World Champion Kal Yafai.

The 26-0 Brit and gis team were hoping that they had got Chocolatito at the right time, nearing the end of his career and could make a signature victory. Gonzalez, however, proved that he still had a lot left putting on a masterclass which ended in a brutal knockout victory and sent an explosive statement to the 115-pound weight class.

Talks of this rematch were almost stopped due to Chocolatito’s $1,000,000 minimum purse demand for Estrada Chocolatito 2 but worked out behind the scenes by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing and have now delivered a mega-fight to boxing fans in 2021.

Chocolatito will have to apply constant pressure and unleash combinations on the slick, fast, counter-punching Estrada hoping his quantity over Estrada’s quality is enough for a win. It has the makings for an unmissable fight of the decade contender on DAZN. Will Estrada right the wrongs of the first fight? or will Gonzalez prove why he is an all-time great of the sport. Estrada Chocolatito 2- March 13 on DAZN.