By Joe Harrison

Following a two-year layoff, “King” David Estrada (26-6, 16 KOs) returned to the ring and defeated Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (9-11, 7 KOs) by a six-round unanimous decision at Cicero Stadium located just outside of Chicago, IL. The bout was the main event of 'International Rumble III' presented by Sammy Merza Promotions.

Estrada started off with a good jab and landed some straight right hands, but the ring rust was apparent as he continuously missed with a looping left hook and showed fatigue very quickly.

At the start of the second round, a right hand from Yusubov rocked Estrada and the fight quickly turned into a brawl. Estrada answered back as he forced Yusubov against the ropes and attacked with a combination of left and right hooks.

During the middle rounds, Estrada was visibly slowing down as Yusubov pressed forward in an attempt to gain momentum. Again, Estrada answered back with power punches seemingly looking to end the bout early. Amazingly, Yusubov began to counter Estrada and remained competitive for the remainder of the fight, even as Estrada continued to find that knockout punch.

The final scores were 60-54 and 59-55 twice, all for Estrada.

In the co-feature, welterweight Ahmed El Mousaoui (16-1-1, 4 KOs) earned an eight-round unanimous decision over Ben Ankrah (17-14, 8 KOs). 

El Mousaoui circled the ring while outboxing and outlanding Ankrah throughout the bout. The fight was very one-sided until the final round when Ankrah became more aggressive and attacked his opponent while showing off some of his dance moves. 

The final scores were 79-73 and 80-72 (twice) in favor of El Mousaoui.

Also on the card, junior welterweight Jose Arambula (4-0, 2 KOs) defeated Greg Coverson Jr. (3-6, 2 KOs) by unanimous decision. Coverson was dropped in each of the opening two rounds but managed to last the four-round distance. All three judges scored it 40-34.

Plus, middleweight Kelin Sharpe won his pro debut by knocking out Anthony Linenfelser (3-5, 3 KOs) in the first round. Linenfelser was immediately in trouble and took a knee. Later in the round, a right hook sent him back down to the canvas where he remained even as the white towel came flying in from his corner. The end came at the time of 2:59 of round one.

In the opening fight, jr. welterweight David Diaz (2-0, 1 KO) scored a second-round technical knockout over Jim Sharpe (0-4). Diaz took the fight to Sharpe and punished him until the fight was called off at the time of 1:23 in round two.