Posted: Apr 27, 2019 | Updated: 3 years ago
On Friday, Juan Francisco Estrada earned a unanimous decision win over Srisaket Sor Rungvisai to become the new WBC super flyweight champion at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. The two fighters first met in the ring back in February of 2018, when Rungvisai won via majority decision.
Rungvisai vs. Estrada 2 – Fight Recap
The fight started off just how the first fight ended, with lots of action. Interestingly, Rungvisai came out fighting in the orthodox stance instead of his usual southpaw. Though both fighters threw and landed some good shots, it was the more technically-sound Estrada who won seemed to have won the opening round. Rungvisai had problems with his balance at times during the early rounds, partially due to his awkward style, but many times he would stumble after getting hit with check hooks from the challenger.
Estrada won almost all of the first nine rounds using his footwork and boxing skills to avoid getting hit with too many clean shots from the heavy-handed champion. Rungvisai would finally commit to fighting southpaw in Round 10 onwards (where he had much more success), but it was too little, too late, as Estrada had built up too big of a lead on the cards.
I scored the fight 117-111 for Juan Francisco Estrada. I gave the last three rounds to Rungvisai, but the rest I thought Estrada won. Official judges scores were 116-112 and 115-113 (x2) for Estrada.
Despite the round-by-round scoring, this was still an entertaining, competitive fight. Rungvisai landed some heavy shots (especially to the body), but he seemed to just be swinging for the fences rather than looking to win rounds, whereas Estrada was boxing for points. I also believe that Rungvisai’s decision to fight orthodox for the first three-quarters of the fight made it that much easier for Estrada to outbox him. I was not surprised with the outcome though, as I predicted it would be Estrada who would make the better adjustments for the rematch.
Rungvisai was considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world going into this fight. At 32 I believe he is past his best, but he may have one more world title win in him. If he were to face Estrada again (within the next year) and come in with a smart gameplan (that does not include fighting orthodox), he could definitely edge out a decision. Although CompuBox is not 100% accurate, they did credit Rungvisai with 230 landed punches to Estrada’s 289, so it was competitive in that regard.
Both Estrada and Rungvisai said after the bout that they are open to a trilogy fight. Estrada also stated that he wants to unify titles with the other champions at 115 pounds.
Other Notable Fight Results
- Daniel Roman MD12 TJ Doheny
- Jessie Vargas KO6 Humberto Soto
- Anthony Sims UD10 Vaughn Alexander
The other champions at super flyweight are the Philippines’ Jerwin Ancajas (IBF) and the UK’s Khalid Yafai (WBA). Filipino star Donnie Nietes vacated the WBO title back in February to avoid a rematch with Aston Palicte in order to go after big fights with titleholders, meaning he could be a possible opponent for Estrada as well.
What do you think of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai choosing to fight orthodox for most of the fight? Is Juan Francisco Estrada a Top 10 P4P fighter now? Does a third fight happen? Comment below with your opinion.
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