Boxing Challenge: Estrada slips by Gonzalez

   Juan Francisco Estrada sped to a huge lead on the scorecards but Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez took command in the middle rounds to enter the final round with the decision in the balance with the vacant WBC junior bantamweight title to the victor.

But it was Estrada that won the final round and earned him the majority decision, the title, and perhaps most important of all - the two-to-one lead in the series of fights between the two.

In a fight much like their second, Estrada boxed well when able to keep the fight in the center of the ring but as the bout progressed, it was Gonzalez marching forward and putting Estrada on the defensive to win those rounds.

Estrada's win was by scores of 114-114, 115-113 (same as my score), and 116-112 with the latter seeming a bit wide for my taste.

After the fight, both seemed anxious for a fourth encounter, which I'd be fine with although I'd prefer Estrada against the winner of the New Year's Eve unification match between WBA champion Joshua Franco (a title Estrada vacated to fight Gonzalez a third time) and WBO boss Kazuto Ioka.

Many leaned slightly toward Gonzalez in picking this fight as he had looked so impressive in defeating WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez while Estrada looked average in a decision win over Argi Cortes but much like his countryman Juan Manuel Marquez in his fights vs Manny Pacquiao, Estrada is always able to raise his game against Gonzalez to another level and twice it has been good enough to win a razor close decision.

In the co-feature, Julio Cesar Martinez was very fortunate to receive a majority decision win over late replacement Samuel Carmona of Spain.

Carmona stepped in for an injured McWilliams Arroyo and built a lead over the first half of the fight with a cute boxing style that frustrated Martinez and left him following Carmona listlessly around the ring for the first seven or eight rounds.

Carmona appeared to have injured his right hand in the middle rounds and Martinez did win some rounds on aggression but Carmona seemed to put the fight away in the late rounds although the judges didn't agree with Martinez winning by scores of 114-114, 116-112 and a pathetic 117-111.

I scored Carmona a winner at 116-112.

It was the second listless performance in a row for Martinez, who lost to Roman Gonzalez at junior bantamweight earlier this year, and his struggles in this one make me wonder if he would cope well at all in a possible unification fight as rumored against IBF champion Sunny Edwards, who is an excellent boxer and could dance around Martinez all fight long.

As for Carmona, a former Olympian, he fought well and should be heard from more in the flyweight division in the future.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:200 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 170 Pts(1)

Vince Samano:158 Pts (0)