September 3, 2022; Hermosillo, Sonora, MX; Juan Francisco Estrada and Argi Cortes during their September 3, 2022 bout at the Centro de Usos Multiples in Hermosillo, Mexico. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.
RING Junior Bantamweight Champion Juan Francisco Estrada overcame an 18-month layoff to defeat Argi Cortes by unanimous decision on Saturday in his hometown of Hermosillo, Mexico.
Two judges scored the fight 115-112, while the third had it 114-113 in the main event broadcast on DAZN, with the margin of victory on the third card being a seventh-round knockdown with a left hook to the body scored. by Strada. (43-3, 28 knockouts).
The victory was Estrada’s fourth defense of the RING championship that he won in 2019 with a unanimous decision over Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. The victory clears the way for Estrada to face his rival Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez on December 3 in a decisive tiebreaker match.
Estrada, 32, defied his usual slow-start pace by trying to make a strong statement in the first round, standing in the pocket and trading big shots with the 27-year-old Cortes (23-3-2, 10 KOs). Cortes was determined to meet the moment in his first major move, surprising Estrada momentarily with a counterattack that caused him to pause momentarily.
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— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) September 4, 2022
Cortes once again took the lead in the fifth, landing heavy power shots with Estrada on the ropes. Estrada began to turn the tide in the seventh with the only knockdown of the fight in the seventh. Estrada continued to focus on the body in the final third of the fight, slowing down the less experienced fighter enough to get on the scorecards.
In the co-feature, Erika Cruz (15-1, 3 KOs) posted a ten-round shutout decision against former champion Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-12-2, 19 KOs) to retain the WBC women’s featherweight title for the second . weather. Cruz won all ten rounds on all three judges’ scorecards, 100-90, just as she won all seven rounds in her first meeting in April 2021, when the fight was cut short by technical decision due to a accidental head butt
