Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez from Nicaragua and Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico meet in a clash for the vacant WBC junior bantamweight belt at the Desert Diamond in Glendale, Arizona, in their trilogy fight on Saturday.
Gonzalez, 35, and Estrada 32, have spilt their first two fights with Gonzalez winning the first and Estrada the second.
Most of the critics were of the opinion that Gonzalez (51-3; 41) won both fights and in their rematch in 2021 Estrada won on a controversial point’s decision.
In his only fight since their last matchup Estrada failed to impress against Argi Cortes (24-3-2; 10) on 3 September, and won on a disputed decision.
The rivalry between the two goes back to 2012, which means that their third fight is almost ten years after the first.
In the first fight Gonzalez was the WBA light flyweight champion and Estrada was a big-punching contender who had only suffered one defeat against Juan Carlos Sanchez in 2011.
The more experienced Gonzalez won quite comfortably with scores of 118-110 and 116-112 twice.
He held the title for almost two years before losing it Srisasket Sor Runvisai in 2017.