Who says sequels can’t top the original?
It did Saturday night when Juan Francisco Estrada defeated Roman “Chocalatito” Gonzalez by split decision in an extremely close Fight of the Year quality bout at American Airlines Arena in Dallas to win the WBA, WBC, and The Ring magazine junior bantamweight titles.
Eight years after their first action-packed bout won by Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs), Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) exacted his revenge in a bout that could have gone either way.
The two combined for 2,529 punches — a junior bantamweight record and it felt like there could have been more. Their first bout also topped 2,000 combined punches.
The scorecards Saturday night read 115-113 Gonzalez, 117-111 Estrada and 115-113 Estrada. The 117-111 was shockingly wide, but the two 115-113 scores were representative of a fight with two warriors putting on a non-stop show.