Hardcore fight fans, the best top to bottom three fight card to be aired in some time is here Saturday night at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California live on HBO. In open defiance of how the American boxing media has always worked, HBO will be bringing us a tripleheader fought exclusively out of the super flyweight division headlined by the much anticipated rematch between Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Srisaket Sor Rungvisa. Japanese sensation Naoya “Monster” Inoue also makes his US debut in the co-feature.
Some view the first fight between Chocolatito (46-1, 38 KOs) and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (43-4-1, 39 KOs) as a robbery. While I also scored the fight for Gonzales, I viewed it as a really close fight that could have gone either way. I can definitely agree that it was an unsatisfying way for a pound for pound elite to lose his perfect record, however, and I am very excited for the rematch.
The first fight was a violent encounter and not always by the rules of the sport. While Thailand’s Rungvisai did put the Nicaraguan star down in the first round on a body shot, part of that was a balance issue. From there he did a lot of work not only with his fists, but with his head. Early in the fight a clash of heads opened a big cut over Chocolatito’s eye, assuredly obscuring his vision and potentially impacting how the judges were seeing the fight given all the dramatic blood coming from one fighter.
This was also a fight in which the punch stats were a bit disingenuous in terms of telling the story of the fight. While Gonzalez in the end had very wide margins in his favor, Rungvisai’s shots were definitely more damaging and powerful. That matters just as much if not more than sheer volume. While, again, I did have Chocolatito winning by a score of 114-113, it really seemed that he hit a size wall here. This is his fourth division afterall and he clearly can’t go any bigger.
Will he be able to overcome the size and strength of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai by enough of a margin to get a decision this time and reclaim his WBC title? Probably, but it is no guarantee. Given how thrilling the first battle was, I am very excited to watch and find out.
I am even more excited for the debut of Japanese superstar and WBO titleholder Naoya “Monster” Inoue (13-0, 11 KOs). Already a two division titleholder at age 24 with just thirteen fights, Inoue made that feat somehow even more impressive by straight skipping a weight class in between his belts. In terms of a mixture of power, grace, and skill, few in the sport match the overall bag of tools that Monster Inoue possesses.
To give an overview of his credentials, in his fourth professional fight Inoue met Ryoichi Taguchi. While that name might not mean much to the American fight scene, Taguchi was then a twenty fight veteran and is a current titleholder light flyweight. Inoue outpointed him easily. Again, in his fourth fight. By his sixth fight Inoue was scoring a knockout for his first world title at light flyweight, a belt he defended once before, again by knockout, before jumping two weight classes to super flyweight.
He didn’t just jump and pick up an easy title either. In his super flyweight debut, in his eighth pro fight, Naoya jumped in against longtime Argentinian titleholder Omar Andres Narvaez. Narvaez was a two time Olympian, two weight class world titleholder, and holds the record with Julio Cesar Chavez with twenty seven successful title defenses in his career. Inoue blew him out in two rounds at age 21 in his eighth pro fight.
The Monster is real and he is crashing onto American shores Saturday night. He has successfully defended the belt five times since that fight with Narvaez with four of those wins coming by knockout. Admittedly Antonio Nieves (17-1-2, 8 KOs) is a bit of a showcase opponent, but that is only because Inoue is so otherworldly good at what he does.
All these words so far and nothing about the great opening bout on this card between top five super flyweights Carlos Cuadras (36-1-1, 27 KOs) and Juan Francisco Estrada (35-2, 25 KOs). This should be an all-Mexican brawl. Cuadras gave Chocolatito a hell of a fight last year and has long been a top contender and titleholder at super flyweight. He did look a bit vulnerable last time out against David Carmona, but he still pulled out the win.
He will need a better performance against Estrada Saturday night, however. Estrada too has a loss to Chocolatito from when they were both fighting two weight classes down, but since that night he jumped to flyweight and became a dominant force. Holding two belts along the way, Estrada scored clean victories over really, really good fighters like Brian Viloria, Milan Melindo, Hernan Marquez, and more. This will be his third fight at super flyweight and his first against the top of the division. Both these men are all action warriors at the highest level. The fact that this isn’t guaranteed to be the best fight on the card speaks to the insanity of this event.
The show begins Saturday night at 10:15 PM Eastern on HBO. To make it all even better, the card is taking place at the Stub Hub Center in California. That venue is quickly becoming known for one that for some reason consistently brings out the best action within a matchup. These fights won’t need any help in that department, but the venue should only make the show better.
Do not miss this.
