A Rematch a Decade in the Making | SI Boxing Podcast
Joining Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix this week is Sergio Mora, former junior middleweight champion and DAZN broadcaster. Mannix and Mora discuss the big rematch between Roman Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada, whether Gonzalez has regained his pound-for-pound form in his last few fights, the rematch between Cecilia Braekhus and Jessica McCaskill on the undercard, whether the winner would be willing to face Claressa Shields in the future, another opportunity for David Benavidez and more; later, Benavidez, the former 168-pound champion, joins to discuss losing his belt, what it was like watching Canelo fight for it, his plans for 2021—they include Jermall Charlo—and why he is the biggest threat to Canelo. Subscribe, rate and review this pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!
The following transcript is an excerpt from The Crossover NBA Podcast. Listen to the full episode on podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.
Chris Mannix: Let's get into Gonzales against Estrada II. These two last fought back in 2012. That fight was at 108 pounds. Terrific fight. Fast-forward nine years, and you have the rematch at 115 pounds. A title unification fight between two of the best smaller weight boxers in the world. Let's start with the first fight in 2012, Sergio. That was a fight that was so anonymous at that time. Was it even on American TV?
Sergio Mora: No.
Mannix: Like, we've been watching YouTube videos from TV Azteca. That is what the television coverage was then. But it turned out to be a terrific fight. You've now watched that fight probably a dozen times. What do you remember about it?
Mora: I going to quote Mark Ortega here, because I think he put it nicely when he says, "It was eight years ago, four months and two weight classes ago that these two fought in 2012, and they're still at their peak." I mean, it's pretty incredible that we're still talking about them, especially when we're talking about flyweights, where they usually have a short career span. It's pretty impressive because we're in the presence of greatness. In Miami, the title of that bill was "Witness Greatness." Well, this one could easily be titled "Witness Greatness," because we're watching a fighter that comes only once every 20 years and Chocolatito and Estrada is proving that he's on the same level. But, yeah, normally these flyweights don't last that long. And for us to be talking about them still is amazing. And the first fight, they both throw a thousand punches, and we expect that from Chocolatito, but for Estrada to do it in a weight class that he wasn't comfortable with—we just talked to him on the fighter meetings without getting too much into it. He said he struggled making weight. He didn't drink water for two days. He didn't eat. These are familiar stories for boxers, but for him to say that and to know that he still gave everything in that fight, making it so competitive all the way to the end, still throwing that many punches, just be ready for this rematch man. Be ready for this explosiveness between two fighters, one at its peak and one that's already a legend.
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