Instead, Estrada was given another fierce battle in a career of fierce battles by Cortes and won a close unanimous decision to retain his silly WBC franchise title and more importantly- the third fight against Gonzalez, which was announced for December third during Estrada's post-fight interview.
Estrada won 115-112 on two cards and 114-113 on the third in the fight that saw each fighter land heavy blows with Cortes bravely battling past a seventh-round knockdown after an Estrada left hook to the body that would have ended the evening for most fighters.
My scorecard was 114-113 for Estrada with the seventh-round knockdown the difference between the two.
Cortes scored often with his right hand during the fight and after six rounds, I thought that Cortes was leading and a massive upset was in the making.
Estrada then crashed his hook in the seventh and while Cortes continued to land in the second half of the fight, the more experienced champion took control of the fight albeit taking punches to do just that.
For Estrada, the Gonzalez fight should be another action fight that will likely come down to another close decision with possibly some controversy as with both of their previous fights.
The surprisingly stern test given to Estrada by Cortes will help him in December as he'll gain some sharpness rather than fighting off a long layoff but give Cortes lots of credit in defeat as he proved his worth and steps into a loaded junior bantamweight division as a legitimate championship contender.
I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Cortes challenging for a world title in the near future.
Boxing Challenge
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