Estrada Plans To Make The Most of Sor Rungvisai Rematch

By Jake Donovan

For someone who’s never won a title fight in the region, Juan Francisco Estrada never gets tired of returning to Southern California.

Then again, he has a bit of history with getting it right the second time around.

The former flyweight titlist fights for the fifth straight time in the Greater Los Angeles area, as he heads into an April 26 rematch with reigning World super flyweight king Srisaket Sor Rungvisa at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The bout will stream live on DAZN USA.

The famed venue also hosted their first fight, a 12-round war in which Thailand’s Sor Rungvisai (47-4-1, 41KOs) claimed a hard-fought majority win last February. With the win came the distinction of earning the vacant World (lineal) 115-pound championship.

“I’m extremely excited for this rematch. I know a lot of fans were asking for it,” Estrada (38-3, 26KOs) stated during a press conference held Monday in Hollywood, Calif. to formally announce the event. “I’m getting ready to bring the title back to Mexico.”

Estrada did just that in his previous weight division, upending Brian Viloria to claim two flyweight titles in April ’13 in Macao. The feat came just five months after going 12 furious rounds with then-unbeaten junior flyweight titlist Roman Gonzalez in Nov. ’12 at the now-defunct Sports Arena in Los Angeles.

The loss to Gonzalez marked Estrada’s first fight in the U.S., before a two-fight trek to Macao in beating Viloria for the flyweight title and successfully defending versus then-unbeaten top contender Milan Melindo. From there, he was able to truly bring the title home to Mexico, defending four more times before moving up to 115 pounds for good in 2016.

Three fights later came his return to the U.S., claiming a 10-round win over countryman and former 115-pound titlist Carlos Cuadras in Sept. ’17. The bout took place at the StubHub Center (now Dignity Health Sports Park) in Carson, Calif., as part of a night billed as “Superfly” with three bouts within the weight class all on the same bill.

Headlining the show was Sor Rungvisai’s shockingly one-sided knockout of Gonzalez in their HBO-televised rematch. His win coupled with Estrada’s victory over Cuadras was enough to set up an HBO headliner of their own, only for Estrada to come up short in his first bid at becoming a two-division titltist. 
 
Two wins have followed in setting up the rematch. Having managed to win a flyweight title in his second try, as well as the lone other rematch in his career—a Dec. ’11 knockout win over Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. to avenge his first pro loss earlier that year—Estrada feels pretty good about yet another second chance at righting a previous wrong.

“I’m thrilled to be back in Los Angeles for this rematch," insists Estrada. "I'm very confident that I'm going to win this fight."

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox