Tag Archives: Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez Knocks Out Juan Francisco Estrada to Win WBC Junior Bantamweight Title

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Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez has a new belt..

The 24-year-old Mexican American professional boxer knocked out Juan Francisco Estrada in the seventh round to win the WBC junior bantamweight title on at the Footprint Center in Phoenix in a candidate for fight of the year.

Jesse "Bam" RodriguezRodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who entered the fight as a -550 favorite, per ESPN BET, had Estrada in trouble in Round 3 after landing a right uppercut.

Estrada recovered well in the third, but in Round 4, Rodriguez knocked him down with a perfectly thrown left uppercut, straight left combination.

Rodriguez kept landing his punches in the next round, all set up by his lead jab.

Another straight left pushed Estrada to the ropes, and the uppercut and left hand kept landing flush. Rodriguez’s speed and power were superior to Estrada’s.

Though Rodriguez appeared to be in total control, Estrada, 34, dropped him in the sixth round with a straight right hand set up by two lead jabs. Rodriguez recovered well and continued landing his left hand and right uppercut.

With just seconds to go in Round 7, Rodriguez landed a left hook to the body that sent Estrada to the canvas. Estrada was visibly in pain and couldn’t recover in time.

“I got him with a good body shot,” Rodriguez said during the postfight interview. “I saw the way he was rolling on the floor. I knew that was it.

“I thought he was going to get back up, so I was already mentally prepared to go on to the next round, but I mean he stayed down and that was it.”

At the time of the stoppage, Estrada was ahead 57-56 on one of the scorecards, while Rodriguez was up 58-54 on another and the third judge had the fight even.

This was Rodriguez’s first victory of 2024 and the second time he won the WBC belt at 115 pounds. Estrada fought for the first time since his trilogy fight against future Hall of Famer Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in December 2022, a career-long 18-month layoff.

Estrada (44-4, 28 KOs) was riding an eight-fight winning streak. The last time he lost a fight before Saturday was more than six years ago, a majority decision to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in February 2018 that he avenged one year later.

Estrada could have one more big fight in him. The future Hall of Famer has a rematch clause and said after the fight that he was going to exercise that option.

“I know the mistakes that I made in there and I want the rematch,” Estrada said. “So we’ll take that rematch and there’s no doubt we’ll win that rematch.”

Rodriguez is knocking at the door of the pound-for-pound top 10 list. He said after the fight he plans to stay at junior bantamweight and try to unify the titles against the winner of the unification fight between Fernando Martinez and Kazuto Ioka on July 7 in Japan.

Juan Francisco Estrada Defeats Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez to Retain 115-Pound Title

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Juan Francisco Estrada is keeping his title…

The 32-year-old Mexican professional boxer defeated Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez via majority decision in their third fight on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, to retain his lineal 115-pound championship.

Juan Francisco Estrada But after three bouts and 36 rounds between two future Hall of Fame boxers, the rivalry between them still isn’t quite settled.

One judge scored it even but was overruled by scores of 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Estrada.

ESPN scored the bout 114-114.

Estrada, who also captured the vacant WBC junior bantamweight title, controlled the first half of the fight by boxing from the outside. He regularly timed Gonzalez with a crisp left hand to the body that disrupted his rhythm and surely contributed to his slow start.

Estrada was able to walk Gonzalez into counter shots while he swept the first five rounds on two scorecards. But after a sluggish start, Gonzalez suddenly found his footing in Round 6.

Gonzalez cranked up the volume and swarmed Estrada, who was repeatedly pinned on the ropes by the increased output. Gonzalez continued to come forward and poured punches on Estrada, who couldn’t match his older foe shot for shot. Gonzalez swept Rounds 6 through 10 on two scorecards.

The championship rounds were the difference. Estrada won Rounds 11 and 12 on two scorecards to avoid the draw and closed strong with a clear final frame in which he connected on 26 punches, his best of the fight.

“I do believe that Roman deserves a fourth fight,” Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) said in Spanish in translated comments. “I think we left the result clear about who the winner was, and if he wants the fourth fight, we can do it.

Estrada added: “He’s a future Hall of Famer. I won today out of my own merit. It doesn’t take anything away from him. I won because I was better prepared. I think that he still has a lot ahead of him in his career.”

That’s if Gonzalez (51-4, 41 KOs), a 35-year-old native of Nicaragua, chooses to continue with his boxing career.

“I don’t know yet. I’m going to talk about it with my family,” Gonzalez said in remarks translated from Spanish. “All fights are different and all fights are difficult, and I think this is the most difficult one.”

However, Gonzalez said he would fight Estrada a fourth time “as long as they pay well.”

Saturday’s fight was entertaining during the second half, but it was a far cry from their first two battles, which were instant classics. Gonzalez won the first meeting via unanimous decision to retain his 108-pound title in 2012.

The rematch didn’t materialize until nearly nine years later, with Estrada taking a controversial split decision in March 2021. Somehow, they topped their epic first fight with a total of 2,529 punches in the return bout.

They twice were scheduled to fight a third time, but those plans were postponed by positive COVID-19 tests, first by Gonzalez and then by Estrada. Gonzalez fought Julio Cesar Martinez on short notice in March and picked him apart en route to a lopsided decision win. In September, Estrada defeated Argi Cortes in a tougher-than-expected challenge.

On Saturday, Estrada and Gonzalez combined for 1,610 punches in a more tactical battle to determine supremacy at 115 pounds.

But there was no clarity in the end, as the fight truly could have gone either way. A fourth bout would surely be welcomed by boxing fans, but there should be plenty of other options for both men. Chief among them could be the winner — and perhaps loser too — of the New Year’s Eve title unification fight in Tokyo between Kazuto Ioka and Joshua Franco.

No matter which path each boxer takes going forward, one thing is certain: Estrada and Gonzalez will forever be linked to each other.

WBC Announces Juan Francisco Estrada & Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez Trilogy Fight

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It’s a trilogy for Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.

The WBC has announced a four-fighter 115-pound tournament to crown a true junior bantamweight champ, which includes a trilogy fight against the 30-year-old Mexican junior bantamweight champion and the 33-year-old Nicaraguan professional boxer.

Juan Francisco Estrada x Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez

The card will also include a bout between former champions Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras. The winners will face each other after.

For this to happen, the WBC elevated Estrada as its “franchise” champion and chose to make Rungvisai vs. Cuadras 2 for the now vacant regular 115-pound title. Estrada is the third WBC “franchise” champion (Canelo Alvarez at middleweight and Teofimo Lopez at lightweight are the others).

The request for a third battle between Estrada and Gonzalez came naturally after both were involved in a great rematch on March 13 that Estrada won in a close and controversial decision to unify the WBC and WBA world titles.

Estrada was supposed to face his mandatory challenger, Sor Rungvisai, who defeated Ekkawit Songnui by third-round TKO, also on March 13. However, the fight that generated the most interest was Estrada-Gonzalez 3 and therefore Matchroom Boxing, who promoted the rematch, began to work with the WBC to finalize the tournament.

Estrada and Gonzalez are 1-1 in their series. Rungvisai and Cuadras will meet a second time after Cuadras took the WBC junior bantamweight title from Sor Rungvisai in a technical decision victory seven years ago in 2014.

Matchroom has not announced yet when the third battle could take place and if the two title fights would be in the same card.

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez to Fight for Possible Fifth World Title

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Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez will get the chance to earn another title…

The 32-year-old Nicaraguan professional boxer, the first boxer from Nicaragua to win world titles in four weight classes,will challenge junior bantamweight world titlist Kal Yafai on February 29 (DAZN) at the Ford Center at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys training facility in Frisco, Texas, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has announced.

Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez

The fight will be on the card headlined by the previously announced Mikey Garcia–Jessie Vargaswelterweight fight.

The WBAissued a resolution on Tuesday that cleared the way for the fight, which interim titlist and mandatory challenger Andrew Moloneyobjected to and had attorney Pat Englishwrite to the sanctioning body to assert his rights. He knocked out Miguel Gonzalezin March in an official eliminator, which the WBA had ruled would give the winner the next shot at Yafai following a defense against Norbelto Jimenez, whom he easily outpointed in June, no later than March 22.

However, the WBA ignored that ruling in its resolution ultimately writing “the WBA has express authority to modify applicable defense periods and otherwise suspend application of various rules under a special permit. Yafai’s special permit request is conditionally granted subject to his compliance with all other WBA rules, regulations, payment of all applicable fees and the following condition: The winner of Yafai/Gonzalez, or Yafai if a draw, must face Moloney as a mandatory defense within 120 days of said bout.”

English wrote back to the WBA to protest the decision, explaining that Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs), 29, of Australia, had twice turned down offers to challenge IBF titlist Jerwin Ancajasas well as a title eliminator in another organization because of his loyalty to the WBA, for whom he has fought in numerous regional title bouts as well as the title eliminator.

“This application (for Yafai-Gonzalez) has no merit whatsoever,” English wrote to the WBA. “It asks the WBA to violate solemn commitments to Mr. Moloney, both written and verbal. It would injure Mr. Moloney, a fighter who showed his loyalty to the WBA by turning down title bouts and elimination bouts in other organizations. If granted it would make a mockery of the mandatory system. It would be an insult to a country whose sole boxing champion is Andrew Moloney at a time when Australia is beset by terrible tragedy due to unprecedented wildfires. Further, the bout which is requested by Matchroom is an undercard bout, not a bout of ‘great significance’ to the boxing world.

“For these reasons, as well as the reasons set forth in this letter the application of Matchroom should and must be denied.”

Yafai is excited to get a fight with the biggest name in the division in Gonzalez, a lock as a future Hall of Famer.

“I wanted the biggest possible fight available and after the Juan Francisco Estradaunification fell through, I had the opportunity to fight ‘Chocolatito,’ the former pound for pound king,” Yafai said. “Chocolatito is someone that I have idolized as I worked my way up to become world champion myself, so it doesn’t get much bigger than this and it will bring out the best in me. I can’t wait, it is a case of when idols become rivals and I am so honored to share the ring with him but also show the world that I am an elite world champion.”

Yafai (26-0, 15 KOs), 30, of England, will be making the sixth defense of his 115-pound belt and second in a row — and third in his past four — in the United States. He was initially was going to face Estrada in early 2020 to unify 115-pound world titles but that was delayed because Estrada is sidelined with a hand injury.

That opened the door for Gonzalez (48-2, 40 KOs), who has won world titles at strawweight, junior flyweight, flyweight and junior bantamweight.

A knee injury that required surgery kept Gonzalez out of the ring for 15 months, but he returned on Dec. 23 in Japan and notched a second-round knockout of Diomel Diocos to shake off the rust and put himself in position for another shot at a junior bantamweight world title.

“God has responded to my prayers once again. I want to thank God and (promoter) Teiken foremost. Also, the champion, Kal Yafai for giving me the opportunity to fight for the championship once again,” Gonzalez said. “I know this will be a very hard fight, but it will be worthy of all our efforts and determination.”

Said Hearn: “This is a brilliant fight on an absolute monster of a show. Kal Yafai has been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time, and now he gets it against a legend of the sport in ‘Chocolatito.’ This card in Texas is going to be epic and you can expect Yafai versus ‘Chocolatito’ to be an all-out war.”

The card will also feature another world title bout that was previously announced. Newly crowned flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez(15-1, 12 KOs), 26, of Mexico, who won the belt on December 20, will make his first defense against European champion Jay Harris(17-0, 9 KOs), 29, of Wales.