Estrada-Chocolatito 3 likely moving to November, Gonzalez reportedly out with COVID

Another fight having trouble getting done.

UPDATE: Eddie Hearn tells ESPN KnockOut that Estrada had signed the contract and Gonzalez had verbally agreed, but “Chocolatito” came down with COVID. The bout could now land in November.

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Super flyweight rivals Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez were reportedly “80%” of the way through negotiations for an October 16th rubber match as of last month, but it seems that last 20% was the killer. ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez claims that “El Gallo” has scrapped his high-altitude training camp after failing to receive an offer. According to Rodriguez, everything is now “in limbo.”

The trilogy fight, which was supposed to cap off a saga that began in 2012 and continued in controversial fashion this past March, served as part of a mini-tournament alongside a rematch between Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras. We haven’t heard a peep about the latter matchup since the WBC ordered it, though, so I guess it’s not too surprising that the whole thing never got off the ground.

Hopefully this is just some hardball from Estrada (42-3, 28 KO); he and Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KO) are hardwired to produce fireworks anytime they interact, and aside from maybe Kazuto Ioka, there’s no better fights for these two than each other. It would be profoundly sad to watch this spot bungle yet another layup.