DALLAS – Juan Francisco ‘Gall’ Estrada i Román ‘Chocolatito’ González they face off in a unifying fight for World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
More than eight years and three months ago, González successfully defended the mini-world championship against Estrada in his first world championship opportunity.
Now, promoter Eddie Hearn has mounted this revenge with the chance that the winner will face the Thai Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Regardless of the outcome, tonight’s billboard has paid special attention to a category that traditionally does not enjoy this level of spotlight.
Here are the details of the fights that have already ended:
Kyoguchi retains his title against Aragón Vega
Japan’s Hiroto Kyoguchi left the American Airlines Center in Dallas with his World Boxing Association mini-fly belt, beating Mexico’s Aaron Perez by technical knockout on Saturday.
For his bad luck, Pérez hurt his right hand in the fifth round, when the fight was very even, full of action, with forcefulness and a desire to please the audience of both boxers.
Thus the Mexican Perez (14-4-1) sold more than expensive defeat to the Japanese.
It left from the first assault with an aggressiveness and speed that by their bad luck was diminishing it physically to the passage of the rounds.
The Japanese champion was more cerebral, managed, but never shied away from the fight, which at times put the fans, mostly of Mexican descent, on the sand of the Dallas Mavericks standing.
By the first third of the fight, Ensenadense Pérez and Kyoguchi (15-0, 9 ko’s) seemed to be very evenly matched, despite the obvious advantage in the Japanese’s reach.
In the fifth round and with the lawsuit more than even, the Mexican injured his right hand; the guard fell to him, qe took advantage of the Japanese to try to strike it, before the slowness of the referral to realize that it was damaged.
A few seconds later, he stopped the fight, when even Kyoguchi realized Perez’s injury before he referred him.
Williams takes over from Douglin
Austin Williams dominated Denis Douglin in an action-packed middleweight clash that ended in a unanimous decision victory.
Williams, originally from Houston, connected big hits during the eight-round fight and was on the verge of a knockout victory. In the seventh, Williams (8-0, 6 KOs) connected a great right uppercut that sent Douglin (22-8, 14 KOs) back to the ropes; but Douglin, the Las Vegas veteran, was able to connect enough punches to quell Williams ’attack, stand up, and reach the bell without falling.
Douglin stepped in to replace Aaron Coley, who was the opponent originally scheduled to face Williams, who got his third win in three months, while Douglin has lost four of his last six fights.
Cissokho knocks out Echeverria
The fight between Souleymane Cissokho and Daniel Echeverria had two main purposes. First, Cissokho needed to be in the ring running after being inactive throughout 2020 and the second is that DAZN and Matchroom Boxing needed to occupy some time on the billboard for Saturday’s event.
Cissokho (12-0, 8 KOs) remained undefeated and won in the sixth round over Echeverría (21-10, 5 KOs). Cissokho, France’s Olympic bronze medalist, used straight and precise blows to overwhelm the Echeverria.
It was Cissokho’s first fight in the United States since he appeared on the billboard of Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr. 1 at Madison Square Garden in June 2019.
Ford and Perez are left with a split tie
In a fight between two undefeated fighters, rising prospect Raymond Ford was better than his opponent, Aaron Perez. However, Perez eventually did enough to win a split tie in an eight-round featherweight fight that kicked off the Estrada-Chocolatito billboard at DAZN.
Perez (10-0-1, 6 KOs), from El Paso, Texas, was aggressive from the start, using unorthodox hooks and angles to cause trouble for Ford in the early rounds. Perez slowed in the second half of the fight when Ford (8-0-1, 4 Kos), of Camden, New Jersey, found success a couple of powerful blows to the body.
But that damage was not enough to wipe out Perez. In the eighth and final round, Perez and Ford got involved in big exchanges.
One judge scored 78-74 for Perez, while another scored 77-75 for Ford. A judge produced a 76-76 score card, which resulted in a draw.
Combat in development: Cecilia Braekhus Vs. Jessica McCaskill, 10 rounds, for the undisputed Welterweight Championship (CMB, AMB, OMB, FIB).
This is the complete billboard of fights:
• Championship fight: Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Román ‘Chocolatito’ González, for the junior title CMB d’Estrada and the junior title AMB de González.
Information from Ben Bay, writer for ESPN.com has been used in this report.