Julio Cesar Martinez won’t go as far as to say his countryman, Juan Francisco Estrada deserved to lose his rematch with Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez.

The reigning WBC flyweight titlist saw a pathway, though, to where at least one junior bantamweight title could have been at stake for his own challenge of Gonzalez next month in San Diego.

“I understand people saying that Chocolatito should have won. I won’t comment on the decision,” Martinez told BoxingScene.com ahead of his March 5 clash with Gonzalez. “I will say that Chocolatito could have applied a little more pressure to convince the judges.

“If he applied more pressure, I think he would have easily won that fight and maybe even have knocked him out.”

Such a route would have seen Gonzalez (50-3, 41KOs) retain his WBA junior bantamweight title while claiming Estrada’s WBC belt in their terrific unification bout last March 13 in Dallas. Estrada (42-3, 28KOs) wound up claiming a highly disputed split decision victory, having since vacated his WBC belt in favor of the sanctioning body’s “Franchise” title while still laying claim to the WBA “Super” junior bantamweight championship.

The latter belt was to have been at stake for a planned rubber match between Estrada and Gonzalez. Those plans were scrapped when Estrada tested positive for Covid, leaving a void that was instantly filled by Mexico City’s Martinez (18-1, 14KOs). The short notice agreement to move up in weight helped keep alive a March 5 DAZN show at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, though without a major title at stake for the fight.

Perhaps that little extra push by Gonzalez—a former four-division champion and a future Hall of Famer—could have raised the stakes for what remains a big opportunity for Martinez.  

“For me, I saw Gallo Estrada badly hurt when he fought Carlos Cuadras (in their October 2020 rematch),” noted Martinez. “He picked himself up off the canvas and won the fight because Cuadras let him off the hook.

“I know if Chocolatito would have pressed the action more, he could have ended that fight inside the distance.”

Of course, Martinez is expecting Gonzalez to not leave any stone unturned ahead of their upcoming fight.

“We are working very hard to perfect the game plan to beat Chocolatito,” insists Martinez. “We aren’t even going 100% in this camp, we are working 1,000% to beat him. It takes a different strategy to beat a fighter like Chocolatito.”

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