Photos by Ed Mulholland/HBO
If you’re even remotely a boxing fan, you’ve been waiting for the fight card dubbed, “Superfly.”
A tripleheader of what promised to be an action-filled night of the sweet science. The night opened with a high-octane bout between Carlos Cuadras (36-2, 27 KOs) and Juan Francisco Estrada (36-2, 25 KOs).
Cuadras and Estrada share two things in common, both have faced Roman “El Chocolatito” Gonzalez, and both want another shot at the title.
Tonight, they were given the opportunity to get one step closer to a title fight and they surely delivered in stellar fashion.
The bout opened up with action almost immediately. Both fighters saw themselves exchanging leather in the center of the ring. Cuadras began the bout as the aggressor and tried to set the pace, while Estrada played the part of the veteran fighter and picked his punches wisely.
The early rounds seemed to lean towards Cuadras, as he was the busier fighter. Estrada continued his slow and steady pace but continued to land strong shots off of small mistakes made by Cuadras.
Where Cuadras found success early was in the constant use if his jab. It wasn’t until the midway point of the fight that we saw Estrada pick up his pace in the fight and begin to land more power shots.
Estrada also implemented a stiff jab that would hide strong power shots behind it. By this point, Cuadras had begun to show signs of fatigue and Estrada sensed it and pressed forward.
WATCH: Carlos Cuadras dropped in Round 10 #Boxing #CuadrasEstrada pic.twitter.com/BDsj7ILrjn
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) September 10, 2017
Estrada found what he was looking for in the 10th round and floored Cuadras with a two-punch combination.
By this point the fight was up for grabs and it would come down to who closed the show. Both men closed the fight strong, Cuadras continued to attempt to throw bombs, while Estrada anticipated shots and countered with precise and stiff blows. After 12 rounds of boxing, we had a unanimous decision victory but it came with a bit of confusion.
Michael Buffer would read the judges scorecards that read, 114-113 X3 but announced “Carlos Estrada” the winner. After a bit of confusion, we learned that Juan Francisco Estrada had won the bout and a guaranteed shot of the winner of Gonzalez-Sor Rungvisai. Whatever the case may be, Estrada will give just about anyone in the Superfly division, a run for their money.
