Notebook: Estrada grinds out win to retain title, advances to third 'Chocolatito' fight
Nontshinga edges Flores in epic battle for vacant junior flyweight belt; Liam Smith scores weird KO; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Juan Francisco Estrada, looking to shake off the rust of an 18-month layoff, thought he was going into nothing more than a tune-up fight with Argi Cortes on Saturday night in order to get ready for a much-anticipated third fight with rival Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.
Although Estrada retained the lineal junior bantamweight championship for the fourth time, winning a unanimous decision — 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113 — it was anything but an easy fight.
Cortes, in his first bout against a recognizable opponent, gave Estrada an extremely difficult fight for 12 action-packed rounds in the main event of the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN at the Multiple Use Center in Estrada’s hometown of Hermosillo, Mexico.
During Estrada’s post-fight interview, DAZN announced that the third fight with Gonzalez was set for Dec. 3 at a site to be determined.
Before facing Mexican countryman Cortes, Estrada, who was boxing at home for first time in three years, said he was injury-injury free going into a fight for the first time in six years. He needed every bit of help he could get.
“I was really surprised. I didn’t expect him to come out so hard,” Estrada said about Cortes through an interpreter. “I have (almost) double (the amount of) his fights, but the experience obviously took over. I was very surprised. He’s a great fighter but the champion is the champion.
“I trained in the altitude for the last three months, so that helped me and I’m gonna continue doing that. He’s a great fighter, but I took the win.”
Cortes (23-3-2, 10 KOs), 27, found a home often for his right hand and also absorbed some tremendous shots from Estrada (43-3, 28 KOs), 32, as they fought back and forth round after round.
Because open scoring was employed in the fight, which was also for Estrada’s Ring magazine title and the WBC’s “franchise” belt, the fighters knew the fight was a split draw after the fourth round.
As the all-out action continued, Estrada’s face began to swell and Cortes gave him a bloody nose in the sixth round. Cortes closed the round by landing a stiff left hook.
Estrada came back with a strong seventh round as he landed a hard left and a right and backed Cortes up. He had big round and with about 50 seconds left dropped Cortes to a knee with a left hook to the body that followed a stiff right.
Cortes, who is trained by Hall of Famer Nacho Beristain, beat the count and Estrada tried to finish him, but Cortes showed enormous resilience.
After the eighth round, the scores were announced again and Estrada was ahead 77-74 on two scorecards and Cortes was up 77-74 on one.
But Estrada, who was the fresher fighter down the stretch, continued to land the heavier shots with more consistency to close out the clear win but one in which he took far more punishment than anyone expected.
Now he will move on to the third fight with Gonzalez (51-3, 41 KOs), 35, the legendary four-division champion from Nicaragua and the former pound-for-pound king.
Before facing Cortes, Estrada’s last fight came in March 2021 in Dallas, where he edged Gonzalez by controversial split decision in a fight of the year candidate to unify his WBC title with Gonzalez’s WBA belt in their rematch that evened their series 1-1. Estrada later vacated the WBC belt and accepted the organization’s “franchise” title and last month he was stripped by the WBA for failing to make a mandatory defense against secondary titlist Joshua Franco.
Whatever belts or status is at stake, the Estrada-Gonzalez rubber match is the biggest fight in the division. In their first all-action fight in 2012, Gonzalez won a unanimous decision to retain the WBA junior flyweight title.
The third fight between these likely Hall of Famers was supposed to take place this past October but it was postponed when Gonzalez came down with Covid-19. Then it was scheduled for March 5 in San Diego but called off six weeks beforehand when Estrada pulled out after contracting Covid-19. Gonzalez easily outpointed replacement opponent and WBC flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez. Estrada could have gone into the fight with Gonzalez but the wanted a tune-up bout.
“That’s why I was really looking forward to getting this fight done,” Estrada said. “I wanted to make sure I looked good and that I had no injuries. I’m a little bruised but I did what I had to do. The work and the conditioning I did for three months is exactly what I needed to do after the layoff and now I can announce the third fight with ‘Chocolatito’ the first week of December.
“We are looking forward to that fight. I’ll be ready for that date. We’re waiting for the trilogy.”
Nontshinga wins 108 title in epic battle
In a riveting, bloody, non-stop action battle, South Africa’s Sivenathi Nontshinga won a split decision against Mexico’s Hector Flores in a fight of the year candidate to claim the vacant IBF junior flyweight title on the Estrada-Cortes undercard.
Nontshinga, South Africa’s only reining world titleholder and fighting outside of his home country for the first time, won 116-111 and 115-112 on two scorecards and Flores got the nod 114-113 on one scorecard in a fight that was action-packed from the opening bell and never let up.
“It was a hard one. I had to dig deep. It wasn’t easy at all,” Nontshinga said. “I had to do it for my country. I had to do it for my family.”
The biggest moment of the fight came in the second round when Nontshinga (11-0, 9 KOs), 23, dropped Flores (20-1-4, 10 KOs), 29, with a right hand.
Flores was undeterred and battled back hard as they took turns rocking each other with power shots as the momentum repeatedly shifted.
The fourth round was a wild round of the year candidate and then an accidental head butt in the fifth round tore open a cut on Flores forehead. The blood poured down his face and chest but did not deter him from standing toe to toe with Nontshinga.
When it appeared that perhaps the fight was getting away from Nontshinga, trainer Colin Nathan dramatically told him in the former after the ninth round, “You've got 9 minutes to turn your life around! Do you want to turn your life around?! Do you want it?! Then go get it!”
Nontshinga became even more intense in his attack and he and Flores, whose face was badly marked up, continued to slug it out to the final bell with the only respite coming in the 11th round when referee Mark Calo-oy briefly called timeout to remove loose tape dangling from Flores’ glove.
Nontshinga won the 108-pound title Felix Alvarado vacated in March to move up in weight.
In a third world title bout on the card:
Erika Cruz (15-1, 3 KOs), 32, of Mexico, retained the WBA women’s featherweight title for the second time in a rematch with Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-12-2, 19 KOs), 40, of Canada, from whom she took the belt by seventh-round technical decision in April 2021 when Mrdjenovich was unable to continue due to an accidental head butt. In the rematch, the southpaw Cruz cruised to a shutout decision, 100-90 on all three scorecards.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked three fights on Sunday’s PBC PPV card: Andy Ruiz Jr.-Luis Ortiz, Isaac Cruz-Eduardo Ramirez and Abner Mares-Miguel Flores as well as Saturday’s night’s DAZN main event between junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada and Argi Cortes. We also took viewer comments and questions and had a good time! Watch it here and enjoy:
Liam Smith scores odd KO
Former junior middleweight titlist Liam Smith (32-3-1, 19 KOs), 34, scored an odd knockout of Hassan Mwakinyo (20-3, 14 KOs), 27, of Tanzania, in the fourth round of a homecoming fight at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, in the main event of the Boxxer card on Saturday.
Mwakinyo applied a lot of pressure and found a home for his jab and uppercut but the fight changed when he appeared to hurt his right ankle late in the third round.
In the fourth round Smith was the one to put the pressure on and backed Mwakinyo into a corner, where he ended up taking a knee and spitting out his mouthpiece.
When Smith went at him and again and laded a couple of short punches, Mwakinyo, whose ankle was clearly an issue, again took a knee and referee Victor Loughlin waved it off at 1 minute, 46 seconds, leading to a cascade of booing for the highly unsatisfying ending.
Smith, in his first fight since signing with Boxxer, won his third fight in a row, all by knockout. He was coming off an impressive 10th-round knockout of former two-division titlist Jessie Vargas on April 29 on the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano card at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“I don’t know. I wish I could answer your question but I can’t,” Smith said about the ending of the fight in his post-fight interview on Sky Sports. “It robbed me of a proper finish because I didn’t really do much early on. Hassan was quite wild early on but I was quite comfortable. Then he landed a couple of punches in round three and then it is over in four. I’m a bit gutted I never gave the fans a proper finish but it was out of my hands.”
Also on the card:
Liverpool southpaw Natasha Jonas (12-2-1, 8 KOs), 38, retained her WBO women’s junior middleweight title and took the WBC belt from Patricia Berghult (15-1, 3 KOs), 28, of Sweden, in one-sided unification fight, winning 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91.
Frazer Clarke (3-0, 3 KOs), 31, the 2020 British Olympic super heavyweight bronze medalist, knocked out grossly overmatched Pencho Tsvetkov (7-1, 5 KOs), 22, of Bulgaria, who meekly went down twice before the fight was waved off in 65 seconds.
Exciting British junior welterweight prospect Adam Azim (6-0, 5 KOs), 20, knocked out Michel Cabral (5-5, 1 KO), 23, of Argentina at 1 minute, 54 seconds of the first round. Cabral had never previously been stopped but Azim dropped him with a left to the body and then nailed him with right hands to force referee John Latham to stop it.
Quick hits
Weights from Los Angeles for Sunday’s PBC PPV: Andy Ruiz Jr. 268.8 pounds, Luis Ortiz 245.4 (WBC heavyweight eliminator); Isaac Cruz 135, Eduardo Ramirez 134.4 (WBC lightweight eliminator); Abner Mares 134.2, Miguel Flores 134.8; Jose Valenzuela 134.6, Edwin De Los Santos 133.8; Joey Spencer 154.6, Kevin Salgado 153.4; Ra’eese Aleem 121.6, Mike Plania 121.8; Charles Martin 250, Devin Vargas 243; Anthony Cuba 134.6, Oscar Perez 135; Anthony Garnica 123.4, Juan Antonio Lopez 127.6; Jesus Carrillo 143, Matt Gaver 146.8; Kel Spencer 139.4, Deljerro Revello 138.4.
Per the California State Athletic Commission, here are the official contract purses for Sunday’s PBC PPV card: Andy Ruiz Jr. $1 million, Luis Ortiz $550,000; Isaac Cruz $200,000, Eduardo Ramirez $175,000; Abner Mares $200,000, Miguel Flores $50,000; Jose Valenzuela $50,000, Edwin De Los Santos $50,000; Joey Spencer $25,000, Kevin Salgado $20,500; Ra’eese Aleem $50,000, Mike Plania $15,000; Charles Martin $25,000, Devin Vargas $20,000; Anthony Cuba $5,000, Oscar Perez $5,000; Anthony Garnica $5,000, Juan Antonio Lopez $5,500; Jesus Carrillo $5,000, Matt Gaver $4,000; Kel Spencer $4,000, Deljerro Revello $2,000.
Although the site and full card have not been determined there will be an Oct. 21 edition of Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation.” The headliner will be a 10-round light heavyweight bout between Ali Izmailov (9-0, 6 KOs), 29, a Detroit-based Russia native, taking on former world title challenger “Hot Rod” Radivoje Kalajdzic (27-2, 19 KOs), 31, a Bosnia native fighting out of Saint Petersburg, Florida. Kalajdzic has won three fights in a row since suffering a fifth-round knockout challenging light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev in May 2019.
WBC women’s junior flyweight titlist Kim Clavel (16-0, 3 KOs), 31, of Montreal, and WBA counterpart Jessica Nery Plata (28-2, 3 KOs), 28, of Mexico, will meet to unify their 108-pound belts Dec. 1 at Place Bell Laval in Laval, Quebec, promoter Yvon Michel announced. Clavel won her belt from Yesenia Gomez on July 29 in Montreal. Plata dethroned Yesica Bopp by split decision on March 11 in Panama City, Panama and will also be making her first defense.
Show and tell
There were tons of boxing magazines during the 1980s. One of the many long-defunct publications was called “Fight Beat,” which came out every other month. Over the course of six issues in 1983 and 1984 the inside back cover was printed with four “cards” meant to be cut out, even though they were made of just regular magazine paper and the backs were whatever advertisement was on the back cover. But they were really cool and featured many of the era’s biggest stars, including some that have to be considered the rookie cards of several Hall of Famers because, other than the Panini multi-sport sticker sets from Italy, there was a dearth of boxing cards in the 1980s.
Most of the issues are fairly easy to find in nice shape but the final two issues with “cards” are tough. I found them but only after years of searching. But I’ve always wanted to upgrade of the fifth issue with “cards” from August 1984 because mine was not in great shape. I finally found one and the entire issue in is in outstanding condition. It looks like it came off the presses yesterday. Here is the upgraded sheet from that issue in my collection with “cards” of Alberto Davila and three Hall of Famers: Marvin Hagler, Donald Curry and Aaron Pryor.
The rest of the 24-card set: Ray Mancini, Edwin Rosario, Davey Moore, Don King, Alexis Arguello, Wilfred Benitez, Hector Camacho, Jorge Lujan, Pipino Cuevas, Roberto Duran, Saoul Mamby, Eleoncio Mercedes, Freddy Castillo, Jaime Garza, Larry Holmes, Sean O’Grady, Tim Witherspoon, Gerrie Coetzee, Muhammad Ali and Gerry Cooney.
Estrada-Cortes and Nontshinga-Flores photos: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Smith-Mwakinyo photo: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer
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A great couple of fights nearly ruined by the distractingly bad commentary of Jesse Vargas. That guy shouldn't be anywhere near a live mic during a fight. I don't find him particularly insightful, and he's definitely not articulate, but worse is he has no sense of when to shut up, and just blathers away saying nothing. I muted a few times, but the crowd's energy is important to a good fight, so I had to suffer through the torment. Hoping someone at DAZN reads this, or that Dan will throw some influence and protect us from that crap : )
Any word on Nontshinga's health? Cory mentioned he was taken to the hospital after the fight, but we never got an update (or at least not one I could hear through Vargas' massacring my ears). It was the kind of punishing fight that had Nontshinga's legs wobbly afterwards... hoping for the best.
Estrada generally fights down to the level of opposition, so I'm not overreacting to how vulnerable he looked, but it does further cement my opinion that Chocolotito will take a distance win in December; Estrada took a lot of punishment, and at his age and with nearly 50 fights, he needed an easy dust-off performance and didn't get one.
They should hire Malignaggi