González (right) on fire against Juan Francisco Estrada. Photo by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.
No reasonable boxing fan will complain about seeing this one again.
On Saturday it was announced that diminutive boxing greats Juan Francisco Estrada and Román González will square off on December 3 at a location to be determined. Estrada will defend The Ring’s junior bantamweight championship.
The pair first met in November 2012, in Los Angeles, with Gonzalez defending the WBA junior flyweight title. It was a fight that went unnoticed by those outside of hardcore boxing circles and that was unfortunate. After 12 rounds of elite combat, González prevailed via unanimous decision.
As both men’s fame and following grew, fight fans began calling for a rematch. González, a native of Nicaragua, was a four-weight world champion and a WBA 115-pound champion. Mexico’s Estrada had unified at flyweight before capturing the Ring and WBC junior bantamweight titles at the expense of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Gonzalez-Estrada 2 received much more attention and was a worthy sequel to the original. After an incredible 12 rounds, it was felt by many that Gonzalez had scored a repeat victory over “El Gallo”. However, Estrada prevailed with a split decision win, with a judge awarding him the fight by a ridiculous margin of nine rounds to three.
The decider should have taken place earlier this year, but Covid forced Estrada into retirement.
Gonzalez, who is ranked No. 1 by The Ring at 115 pounds, looked electric in a decision win over replacement opponent Julio Cesar Martinez in March. Meanwhile, Estrada finally came back on Saturday with a win over Argi Cortes.
The boxing world is now ready for Estrada-González 3.
Tom Gray is Managing Editor of Ring Magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing
