Inglewood, Ca.– Mexican warriors Juan Francisco “EL Gallo” Estrada and Felipe “Gallito” Orucuta left it all in the ring in front of 4019 fans in attendance at the fabulous Forum for the HBO Boxing After Dark telecast of Superfly 3.
After 12 toe-to-toe rounds, Estrada (37-3, 25 KOs) convingsingly defeated Orucuta (36-5, 30 KOs) by way of unanious decision, with judges seeing the fight 118-112 and 117-11 x2 for the Sonora Native.
In the early rounds, both fighters landed big punches while maintaining a cautions approach throughout the middle rounds. The crowd ooh’ed and ahh’ed at every perfectly delivered punch from either of the Mexican super flyweights.
The fight picked up in the seventh round with “El Gallo” and “Gallito” letting their hands go, causing sweat to fly from both of the fighter’s face with every punch. The pace of the fight continued throughout the championship rounds with Orucuta landing pucnhes snapping Estrada’s head back till the final bell.
Post-fight, Estrada told the media he was proud of his achievements and was looking forward to meeting in the ring with Rungvisai once again.
Photo credit: Timothy Norris
“We’re aiming directly for Rungvisai,” Estrada assured. “I hope we get the opportunity, because thats the reason we won this fight.”
The co-main event concluded in a split draw, as Donnie “Snake” Nietes and Aston “Mighty” Palicte engaged in a cautious, tactical fight which left no apparent winner in the eyes of the judges.
While the crowd booed in the stands, Palicte (24-2-1, 20 KOs) tried to adapt to a Nietes who though older and shorter, was always one step ahead. In the sixth round, Nietes (41-1-5, 23 KOs) hit the canvas but it was ruled a slip by the referee. The remainder of the rounds consisted of both fighters trading punches as the crowd went from cheers to boos.
Nietes expressed disappointment in failing to become four-division world champion.
“Of course I won the fight,” Nietes said post-fight. “I dealt with his reach, I hurt him, and I controlled the fight. I wanted to unify, now I can’t even leave the ring with my belt.”
Palicte also revealed he felt he won the fight and expressed interest in a rematch with the three-division world champion.
Photo credit: Timothy Norris
“It was a close fight, but I thought I won it in the first half of the fight,” said Palicte. “I threw more punches and landed more punches. He came on in the last few rounds. Let’s do it again, anytime.”
In the action-packed T.V. opening bout, Kazuto Ioka became the new WBC Silver Super Flyweight World Champion by defeating Puerto Rican flyweight McWilliams Arroyo by unanimous decision.
In the last seconds of the third round, Ioka (23-1, 13 KOs) landed a left jab followed by a right hand that sent Arroyo to the canvas. Though Arroyo (17-4, 14 KOs) landed big shots in the following rounds and seemed to have growing animosity towards his Japanse opponent, Ioka boxed beautifully around Aroyo, earning him to have a wide lead in the scorecards with judges scoring the bout 99-90 and 97-92 x2.
Photo credit: Timothy Norris
“He was a tough opponent,” Ioka said post-fight. ” But I was in the control of the fight. We had a great game plan and
executed it to perfection.”
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