GLENDALE, Arizona – Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez once again under the divisional limit for a highly anticipated showdown with Juan Francisco Estrada.
The legendary former four-division champion was 114.7 pounds during the official weigh-in as monitored by the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission for his challenge of Estrada’s lineal junior bantamweight championship and the vacant WBC title. Estrada came in right at the 115-pound divisional limit for their rubber match on Saturday, live on DAZN from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Nicaragua’s Gonzalez (51-3, 41KOs) was also 114.7 pounds in a dominant 12-round win over Julio Cesar Martinez, who badly missed weight on his first two tries. The WBC flyweight titlist had to make a commission-mandated same-day weight limit to proceed with the bout, where Gonzalez soundly outpointed him over twelve rounds in their March 5 non-title fight in San Diego, California.
Friday’s weight for Gonzalez was one ounce lighter than in his rematch with Estrada, when both fighters weighed 114.8 pounds for their Fight of the Year-level slugfest last March 13 in Dallas. Estrada prevailed via disputed split decision to unify the lineal/WBC/WBA titles.
The WBC and WBA belts were since vacated, though the WBC strap is back on the line after Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (17-0, 11KOs) relinquished the crown as he moved back down to flyweight.
Gonzalez and Estrada both weighed 107 ¾ pounds for their first meeting in November 2012. Gonzalez defeated Estrada via unanimous decision in the final defense of his WBA junior flyweight title.
The weigh-in for the co-feature didn’t feature any drama, a refreshing change of pace for Martinez who won’t need multiple tries to make weight for his WBC title defense versus Spain’s Samuel Carmona.
Mexico City’s Martinez (18-2, 14KOs; 2NC) was 111 pounds, well under the limit for the fifth attempted defense of the title he won three years ago in nearby Phoenix. Carmona (8-0, 4KOs)—a 2016 Olympian—was 111.4 pounds ahead of his first career title fight.
DAZN Main Undercard (8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT)
Diego Pacheco (16-0, 13KOs), Los Angeles, California, 167.4 pounds vs. Adrian Luna (24-8-2, 16KOs), Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, 168 pounds—10 rounds, super middleweight
Joselito Velazquez (15-0-1, 10KOs), Oaxaca, Mexico, 112.3 pounds vs. Cristofer Rosales (34-6, 21KOs), Managua, Nicaragua, pounds—10 rounds, flyweight
DAZN ‘Before The Bell’ Preliminary Undercard (5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT)
Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams (12-0, 9KOs), Houston, Texas via Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 162.1 pounds vs. Simon ‘Vikingo’ Madsen (13-0, 10KOs), Cancun, Mexico via Horsens, Denmark, 160.6 pounds—10 rounds, middleweight
Marc Castro (8-0, 6KOs), Fresno, California, 133.6 pounds vs. Maickol Lopez (16-3, 8KOs), Miami via Mexico City, 132 pounds—8 rounds, lightweight
Anthony Herrera (3-0-1, 2KOs), Los Angeles, 119.6 pounds vs. Christian Sullivan (8-0, 5KOs), Casa Grande, Arizona, 119.7 pounds—6 rounds, junior bantamweight
Beatriz Ferreira (1-0, 0KOs), Sao Paulo, Brazil, 129.5 pounds vs. Carisse Brown (7-2, 4KOs), Lakeland, Florida, 129.3 pounds—6 rounds, junior lightweight
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox