One of the most anticipated fights of 2021 is officially on.
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada made weight Friday afternoon for their 115-pound title unification fight Saturday night in Dallas. Their 12-round rematch for Gonzalez’s WBA and Estrada’s WBC super flyweight titles will headline DAZN’s stream from American Airlines Center (8 p.m. ET).
Nicaragua’s Gonzalez, 33, stepped on the Texas Combative Sports Program’s scale at 114.8 pounds. Mexico’s Estrada, 30, officially weighed in at an identical 114.8 pounds.
The slightly favored Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs) finally will get his chance to avenge a 12-round, unanimous decision defeat to Gonzalez (50-2, 41 KOs) in November 2012 in Los Angeles. Their first fight was contested at the light flyweight limit of 108 pounds, for Gonzalez’s WBA belt.
Just before Estrada and Gonzalez got on the scale Friday, Jessica McCaskill and Cecilia Braekhus made weight for their immediate rematch Saturday night.
Chicago’s McCaskill weighed in at 144.6 pounds, slightly lighter than Norway’s Braekhus, who weighed 145 pounds. Their rematch, like their first fight, was contracted for a catch weight of 145 pounds, two less than the welterweight limit.
The 36-year-old McCaskill (9-2, 3 KOs) upset Braekhus (36-1, 9 KOs) by majority decision in their 10-round fight for the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO welterweight titles August 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
McCaskill’s upset of Braekhus ended the longest championship reign in all of boxing.
Braekhus, 39, had owned the WBA and WBC 147-pound championships since March 2009. She failed in her bid against McCaskill to break Joe Louis’ longstanding record for consecutive title defenses in the same division (25).
The official weights for the first four Gonzalez-Estrada undercard fights are listed below.
Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9 KOs), Tokyo, 107.6 pounds vs. Axel Aragon Vega (14-3-1, 8 KOs), Ensenada, Mexico, 107.2 pounds, 12 rounds for Kyoguchi’s WBA super light flyweight title.
Austin Williams (7-0, 6 KOs), Milwaukee, 162 pounds vs. Denis Douglin (22-7, 14 KOs), North Las Vegas, Nevada, 161.6 pounds, 8 rounds, super middleweights.
Raymond Ford (8-0, 4 KOs), Camden, New Jersey, 126.8 pounds vs. Aaron Perez (10-0, 6 KOs), Albuquerque, New Mexico, 127.2 pounds, 8 rounds, junior lightweights.
Souleymane Cissokho (11-0, 7 KOs), Dakar, Senegal, 159.4 pounds vs. Daniel Echeverria (21-10, 18 KOs), Gomez Palacio, Mexico, 167 pounds, 8 rounds, super middleweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
