By Francisco Salazar

After a brutal back-and-forth clash produced a candidate for ‘Fight of the Year’ in 2018, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Juan Francisco Estrada will do battle again at the same venue.

Rungvisai and Estrada will collide in the anticipated rematch on Apr. 27, it was officially announced Tuesday afternoon.

The 12-round bout will take place at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. Sor Rungvisai will again defend his WBC junior bantamweight title.
Also taking place on the card will be the unification fight between WBA junior featherweight titleholder Danny Roman and IBF titleholder TJ Doheny.

DAZN will stream the card.

Rungvisai and Estrada squared off in a compelling fight on Feb. 28 of last year, where Rungvisai won a hard-fought majority decision over 12 rounds. The fight has been in the works for some time, as Rungvisai was mandated by the WBC to fight Estrada and fulfill his mandatory.

The 32-year-old Sor Rungvisai (47-4, 41 knockouts), who resides in Si Sa Ket, Thailand, successfully defended his WBC title on Oct. 6 with a one-sided decision over Mexico’s Iran Diaz.

Rungvisai has not lost since a technical decision to then-WBC titleholder Carlos Cuadras in May of 2014, a string of 20 straight wins.

“I am extremely excited and honored to be back fighting in the U.S. again,” said Rungvisai. “Estrada is a great fighter, and we had an amazing fight last year. Our round 12 was awarded ‘Round of the Year’ by the WBC. That is evident as to how entertaining the previous fight was.”

“I believe that this fight on Apr. 26 will be even more entertaining. I am training extremely hard in Thailand. I am confident I will be the winner on Apr. 26.”

Estrada (38-3, 26 KOs) has fought his last two bouts since the loss to Rungvisai in the Los Angeles area. The 28-year-old Estrada returned to the ring on Sept. 8, defeating Felipe Orucuta by unanimous decision, which also took place at The Forum.

In his last bout on Dec. 8, Estrada broke down Victor Mendez, stopping him after the seventh round in nearby Carson.

Roman will be making the fourth defense of the WBA title. Roman, who is co-promoted by Matchroom Boxing and Thompson Boxing Promotions, stopped Gavin McDonnell in the 10th round of his last bout on Oct. 6.

The 28-year-old Roman will finally fight in his hometown of Los Angeles after recently fighting in Chicago, the Dallas area, and in Japan.

“It feels pretty damn good to fight in front of my hometown fans,” said Roman. “My last five fights have been away from home, but I don’t feel any added pressure in this homecoming of sorts. I know I have a job to do.”

“The is the biggest and most important fight of my career. I haven’t been shy about wanting to unify the division. The is the fight that I’ve been asking for since I became a world champion. I need to deliver on my goal of becoming the best and a win against another world champion puts me in that conversation.”

Doheny (21-0, 15 KOs), who is originally from Ireland and now resides in Bondi Junction, Australia, won the IBF title by winning a unanimous decision over Ryosuke Iwasa on Aug. 16. He successfully defended the title on Jan. 18, stopping Ryohei Takahashi in round 11.

With the win over Takahashi, Doheny has stopped eight of his last 10 opponents.

“Danny’s a great fighter,” said Doheny, who signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing in January. “He adds a lot of pressure, he’s a great puncher, (has) great punch-selection, and he’s got it all. It’s going to be a great fight between us, and I won’t be surprised if the fans get to see a bit of a war.”

“Fighting Danny in his home city, that doesn’t bother me. I’ve been fighting on the road my whole career, so it will be no different to me. We met in the wing after the (Takahashi) fight, and there was a lot of respect for each other. That’s the way it should be. We’re two world-class fighters. Two world champions in the division. A fight like this doesn’t need any false hype.”

Jessie Vargas (28-2-2, 10 KOs), who will make his junior middleweight debut, and junior lightweight contender Scott Quigg (35-2-2, 26 KOs) will appear in separate 10-round bouts on Apr. 26.

Unbeaten light heavyweight Anthony Sims Jr. (17-0, 16 KOs) will fight in an eight-round bout. He is fighting Mateo Veron in a 10-round stay-busy fight this Saturday night in Petersborough, England. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing