HBO boxing was in its last days when they began arraigning triple header cards under the title of “Super Fly” that featured the little guys. The matchups were quality and the fights delivered in divisions that most boxing fans are not typically exposed to. DAZN picked up where HBO left off with Carlos Cuadras, Juan Fransisco Estrada and of course Roman Gonzalez. These fights delivered and were very exciting displays of high level boxing. In the wake of the top two billed fights there is a long overdue rematch set up for Estrada and Gonzalez who first met back in 2012. Though they are now older and slower than they once were they are both still at the top of the Super Flyweight division and will unify titles against each other.
Juan Francisco Estrada vs Carlos Cuadras II: Fight of the Year Candidate
I think we need to resign to the fact that when these two are in the ring it is going to be a close and difficult to score fight. Estrada made effective use of the counter left hook as Cuadras continued to press. A very close opening round started this contest. Estrada displayed the superior punching skills throughout the 2nd round with his jab and right cross. Cuadras tried to pour it on late in the round but the attacks are thwarted. This is a close fight so far but the range seems to favor Estrada and the pace has been quick but does not seem to lie in either fighters favor just yet.
Cuadras spends the first two minutes of the third falling in and being kept at bay. The Estrada counter left hook has been very accurate early on but has not deterred Cuadras from coming in and trying to exchange. Cuadras continues to press with wide shots but Estrada shells up protected by his shoulders and fends off unharmed. Estrada sends Cuadras back with another left hook counter as he slips back out of range. At the very end of the round an uppercut backs Estrada up before a left hook drops him. Estrada is up and the round should be over as I heard the ten second clap. He is up and Cuadras is on the assault as the round seems to have gone longer than three minutes.
Cuadras came out looking to press his advantage but it was Estrada who scored effectively to start the fourth. Estrada starts marching forward and doubling his left hook as Cuadras is put on the defensive. Estrada shows a left hook to the body but swept it to the head. Cuadras tried to respond but was hit with a right cross in between punches. Just as Estrada landed a big left hook Cuadras dug in and landed a right of his own. Estrada turns up the head in this round but the range seems to favor Cuadras despite all of Estrada’s success. Cuadras begins the fifth with visible damage on his left cheek. Cuadras fights with his mouth wide open but does not appear to be fatigued as he his moving effectively and throwing hard. Solid left uppercut to the head by Estrada has Cuadras bouncing around the ring. Cuadras settles and responds with a three punch combination. Cuadras fell into a hard left hook and a big right uppercut snapped Cuadras head up toward the rafters. Cuadras wills himself back in with wide looping shots but he is getting tagged in this round.
There is too much action the sixth for me to type and follow. Estrada hurt Cuadras with a body shot and drew blood from his nose. The left hook knocked Cuadras’s head out of alignment and he was stood up by a series of punches. Cuadras survives the onslaught and comes back with punches of his own. Estrada banks another round and does damage but Cuadras will not go away. This fight is in no way going twelve rounds at this rate. Cuadras had a better round and landed his right hand effectively. Cuadras managed to avoid the left hook in this round but a clash of heads stunned Cuadras and he was in retreat to close the round. Cuadras opened the eighth round throwing as Estrada seemed to be taking a break. A series of shots from Cuadras is punctuated by a hard left hook that backs Estrada on his heels. Cuadras lands a right cross but a right in return stuns Cuadras who backs off. A pattern forms where Cuadras fires multiple punch combinations only to be caught by a follow up counter. Cuadras shows the damage from these shots has he stumbles and backs off. A hard body shot from Estrada has him bent over and covering the right side of his body but then roared back with both hands a very close round.
Cuadras comes in low to start the ninth and takes a few counters before turning and running out of harms way. Cuadras builds some momentum before eating two body blows that weaken him again. Out of nowhere Cuadras throws three hooks in a row alternating hands. Cuadras uppercuts from too far away and is met with a hard left hook. A left uppercut again at range backs Cuadras off again. Estrada’s faster and straighter punches are the difference in these exchanges along with a much tighter defense. Excellent fight with three rounds to go but it is close enough where Cuadras can still get a decision.
Cuadras is guns blazing in round ten and lands a big left hook. Moments later he attacks again with a flush right cross. Cuadras still seems uneasy on his feet but keeps attacking. Estrada lands a solid right hand with about twenty seconds to go and he had to try and clinch. Cuadras hit again looks hurt but makes the bell in a good round for him despite the end. Estrada comes out like a man on a mission and drops Cuadras down with a series of hooks. He is all over Cuadras who tries to hook with him but is naniled. Cuadras stuck in place and hit with a left aas he tries circling right and gets hit. Cuadras plants and tries to make a last stand and a right puts him on the canvas. He is up and the referee lets it go but he looks done. Cuadras shows courage but is getting hit with everything. Crazy exchange along the ropes as Cuadraas refuses to give in, a clinch forces them back to the middle of the ring where Estrada can have a field day. An Estrada uppercut backs Cuadras to the ropes and a right hand staggers him, Cuadras is now frozen in the middle of the ring eating everything and that’s it TKO! Huge statement!
| Bout WBC 118lb Title | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| Juan Francisco Estrada Champion | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | TKO | ||
| Carlos Cuadras Challenger | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
Roman Gonzalez dominates Israel Gonzalez to retain WBA Super Flyweight belt
Roman Gonzalez held up his end of the bargain in securing a rematch with Juan Francisco Estrada (I type this without knowing the result of the main event). I was very impressed with Israel Gonzalez in his controversial loss to Kal Yafai back in 2018 and was happy to see the young fighter not get discouraged as he found himself back in title contention. The aging veteran Roman Gonzalez picked up his 50th victory in a fight that was more difficult than the scorecards would show in a case of a competitive but decisive decision victory. Israel Gonzalez had plenty of moments and made the aging champion work hard for the victory but Roman was every bit as impressive in this performance as he was against Yafai. This continues a 4 fight winning streak since his back to back defeats to Sor Rungvisai and he should be an obvious lock to win RING Comeback Fighter of the Year for 2020.
The contest opened with Israel moving on the outside and putting out a jab. He moved laterally and slipped the punches from Roman. Roman pursued with a lot of heavy front foot pressure but was not throwing many punches. A patient start to the fight saw the first moment as just past the 2 minute mark a Roman right hand scored down the middle. Israel threw two left hooks that Roman backed out of range for and in between Roman landed another clean right hand. The hook from Israel were just armed out without much power. I thought Israel won the first 2 minutes of the opening round but the connects of Roman were more significant, certainly a close round.
Israel began working jabs and right hands to start. A solid left hook got in and Roman languished in front of Israel who began to unload. Roman scored a right over the top and began to go to work even getting Israel to the corner. Just as Israel opened up with success Roman roared back, Roman is not as fast or explosive as he was but he is still very crafty as Kal Yafai learned earlier this year. Israel focuses on speed with his combinations touching Roman but Roman brought hard right hands over the top. Another close tough round. Israel began the 3rd behind his jab and patient movement but was soon trapped in a corner and Roman started opening up. Israel stumbled momentarily and was trapped in a corner. Israel spun him and got out of the corner. After the reversal Roman worked him back to the ropes and scored effectively. Roman began to time the jab and leaned off to his left to load a hard straight right hand. Roman showed his mastery in shifting his weight and placing his punches as he wades in through the fast straight shots of Israel and attacks. Israel tried a right uppercut to stave off the attack but Roman digs a left hook to the body and corners Israel again who continues to get stuck on the ropes. Decisive round for Roman and the onus is on Israel to change it up.
In a show of economy of motion, Roman carefully works his way inside again as the younger Israel is active but ineffective. At this point the calm and experienced Roman is going to out last and wear down the younger but more jittery challenger. The pace has slowed slightly this round but means less resistance offered by Israel while Roman digs left hooks to the body to slow his younger foe. Out of nowhere a right uppercut shocks Roman followed by a right cross over the top. Roman opens up on a stationary Israel who came over the top with a devastating right hand that got Roman’s attention.
Israel digs down and starts the 5th behind a series of punches as he jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts his way back in. Roman continues to march in and trap Israel but the younger challenger manages to escape without harm. Israel is waiting on the uppercut as he remains in close taking a risk to land his best punch. Israel takes aim with his left hook to the body more in this round as the defense has been positioned mostly to guard the head. Roman nets the 5th clearly as Israel is still cagey but his activity has waned some. Israel opened up early in the round as has been customary in this fight but is hitting arms, gloves and shoulders. Roman shifts and presses and counters as he begins to take control early in the 6th. Frustration sets in on Israel’s face as one of his shots strays low and the referee broke the action. Roman lands a hard cross to counter the uppercut and it appears another weapon for Israel has been timed.
The 7th began and it started to resemble a sparring session as Israel’s usual opening round burst lacked any authority and was easily picked off. Roman spend the first minute walking down a passive and worn out challenger pursuing him from one end of the ring to another. He continues to corner Israel without any resistance as the referee looks on. This is starting to look like a situation where the towel will come in or the referee with wave it off. Near the halfway point a single right hand comes in for Roman and Israel fans out 3 punches that are all easily dodged. Israel changed it up in the 8th as he exited his corner in a calmer approach without the fast combinations or rapid movement. Instead he dug in and fired off two straight right hands that scored well. Roman immediately went back to work and attacked the body with hooks and worked inside. Roman went on a persistent assault but Israel scored a right of his own in a brief reprieve. Roman’s mouth was opening in this round as he might be slowing down ever so slightly. A slight momentum change and some success but the fight has fallen outside of the scorecards and Israel needs something big but a spark has come.
The 9th saw a very competitive round amid a definite slow down in the pace. Roman displayed great shifting and footwork as he worked his way in straight ahead before moving to Israel’s left and digging a left hook to the body. Israel is hanging in there and it seems he will more than likely make the distance as Roman tires and loses snap on his punches but he has a lot of work to do if he wants to win. The 10th had flashes of excitement as Israel managed to surprise Roman with several straight right hands down the middle but it is still all isolated work for the challenger who has been drowned out in activity and pressure.
After a quiet 11th the 12th began with a firefight as Israel took his cuts to start the round. For the first time he backed Roman up and dug in hooks but that was short lived. Roman responded with aggression and scored a powerful right hand down the middle,. Israel walked back at Roman and put his hands together in combination but the champion came back. Cornered, Israel flurried his way out and the two exchanged in the middle of the ring. A 1-2 backed Roman off and then Israel went on an assault that enlivened the observers at ringside but was not enough.
| Bout WBA 115lb Title | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| Roman Gonzalez Champion | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 119 |
| Israel Gonzalez Challenger | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 109 |
Julio Cesar Martinez demolishes Moises Callero in 2
WBC Flyweight Champion Martinez jumped on challenger Calleros early as a 1-2 left hook got his opponent to dip to a knee. He was hurt badly and Martinez patiently placed his punches and continued to move Calleros around the ring. A leaping left hook did damage at the end of a big round. Martinez opened the 2nd round with a hard left hook at range. Martinez began to work his left hook right cross and it looked like a stoppage was just a matter of time. Martinez started to interchange to a southpaw stance and back. Shifting back he scored a hard left hook to the body. Calleros began to try and mount something but his hands were slow and it seemed he was pushing his punches. Calleros was stuck on the ropes and ate a hard right uppercut that sunned him in place. Martinez put his punches together
This should have been his 2nd title defense but Calleros showed up 5.5 pounds over weight but Martinez moved forward. At 25 the young Mexican champion is a force to be reckoned with at 112 and above. He is surrounded by some talented fighters and his aggressive style will create some fun fights.
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