By Dan Ambrose: Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada have signed contracts for their trilogy match on March 5th on DAZN at the Pechanga Arena, San Diego, California.
Mike Coppinger is reporting the news of the Gonzalez-Estrada III fight being a done weal. This should be a good one as long as the judges don’t foul it up like last time the two 115-pounders fought.
Estrada VERY lucky last time with the generous scoring
That was arguably the worst decision this writer has ever seen, apart from some of Canelo Alvarez’s past fights.
The judges gave it to Estrada by these oddball scores:
- 117-111 – Juan Francisco
- 115-113 – Juan Francisco
- 115-113 – Roman Gonzalez
Dan Ambrose’s score for the fight was 117-111 for Chocolatito, but if you were being generous for Estrada, you could make it 116-112 for Roman. It was pure domination for Chocolatito, and it’s unclear why two of the judges gave it to Estrada.
Estrada’s WBA super flyweight title will be on the line for the fight with the 33-year-old Nicaraguan native Chocolatito. It’s unclear whether Estrada’s WBC Franchise strap will be available.
That would have to be up to Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) for him to decide if he wants to put that honorary belt up for grabs. However, it’s unlikely Roman would want to fight for a Franchise title because he doesn’t seem like the type to want to own that belt.
Chocolatito = the better fighter last March
The former four-division world champion Chocolatito (50-3, 41 KOs) has gotten the better of Estrada in their first two fights, beating him easily by a 12 round unanimous decision in 2012, and then dominating him in their rematch last year.
The judges in Texas gave the win to Estrada, who comes from nearby Mexico, but it was a one-sided fight in reality with Chocolatito showing off his masterful talent in schooling Juan Francisco for 12 one-sided rounds.
With a different set of judges, Chocolatito likely would have won a lopsided victory because he leagues better than Estrada in that fight.
This is a good fight as long as the judges wreck it like they did the last one between Roman and Estrada when they arguably gave the victory to the wrong fighter. A year ago, the judges in Dallas, Texas gave Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) a controversial 12 round split decision win.
The 31-year-old Estrada was showered with boos by angry fans, who felt that Chocolatito had dominated virtually the entire fight.
This writer saw the result as similar to Canelo Alvarez’s two fights with Gennady Golovkin and his match against Erislandy Lara.
Juan Francisco will have the fans on his side
Estrada didn’t deserve the win over Chocolattito, and the scoring for their fight looked completely out of sorts with the match that took place on the night.
Placing the trilogy fight in Southern California will benefit Estrada, as he has a large fanbase in that part of the state.
Given the controversy over the last fight between Chocolatito and Estrada, the promoters for the event should have staged the match in a neutral state where one guy isn’t going to have virtually all the fans rooting for him.
Obviously, they wouldn’t do that because the tickets wouldn’t be huge for the Chocolatito vs. Estrada 3 rematch if they didn’t pick a state where Juan Francisco didn’t have a large fanbase.
