By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

On Saturday night when the boxing world learned that the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler suddenly passed away at 66, WBC super flyweight champ Juan Francisco “El Gallo Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) out of Hermosillo, Mexico battled his friend and foe reigning WBA super flyweight titlist Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) out of Managua, Nicaragua for WBC/WBA unification in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center, shown live on DAZN, in a throwback performance that would have made the “Marvelous” one proud.

It was their long-awaited rematch from November, 2012, where Chocolatito retained his light flyweight title in a twelve round unanimous decision. And at 5’4” and 5’3” respectively, Estrada and Chocolatito, proved once again that “everything is bigger in Texas,” especially the heart of these two warriors as they battled feverishly over twelve masterful rounds of boxing.

In another epic back and forth showdown, Estrada came out firing from the opening bell with his jab and right hand, before Chocolatito warmed up and midway through the second round the pace had picked up considerably as both fighters exchanged heavy leather. In round three, Chocolatito pushed the action and forced Estrada backward and unloaded a big one, two combo to the head and body of Estrada, however, Estrada countered with a solid right hand in the final seconds of the round. Round four was a big round for both men as each dropped bombs on each other the whole time.

Although both fighters had their moments, Chocolatito seemed to get the better of Estrada from round five to round eight, landing more often and showing great defense as he avoided many of Estrada’s power shots as he either ducked out of the way or moved slightly out of range. Estrada did have his moments like the right-hand uppercut he landed on the chin of Chocolatito at the end of round seven.

By the championship rounds, Chocolatito and Estrada poured every ounce of blood, sweat and tears into the ring as both men tried desperately to finish the job, but neither would budge and showed the heart of a champion. In an instant classic, Estrada pulled out a razor-thin split decision with winning scores of 115-113 and 117-111 as the other judge had it 115-113 for Chocolatito.

Not only were Estrada and Gonzalez fighting for their boxing-crazed countries of Mexico and Nicaragua, there was also legacy and personal pride on the line for the two men who have become friends over the years. The Estrada win avenges one of his three losses (as he avenged his other two as well) and likely catapults him into the hall of fame along with sure-fire first ballot hall of famer Chocolatito, who showed on this night why he reigned as the pound-for-pound king for a couple of years and should put both fighters in the mythical top ten list.

Estrada told DAZN Chris Mannix in the ring post-fight that now that they are 1-1, he would like the rubber match with Chocolatito and Chocolatito accepted the challenge as well, which could put Sor Rungvisai on the back burner for now who was hoping to face the winner after his blowout performance Friday night. Estrada is 1-1 versus Sor Rungvisai and Chocolatito is 0-2, however, most believe he won the first fight before suffering a knockout loss in their rematch.

On this night though, Estrada and Chocolatito showed why boxing is often referred to as the sweet science at the highest level as they masterfully danced and maneuvered in and out of harm’s way over twelve beautiful rounds. No matter who came out victorious, rest assured that Marvelous Marvin Hagler would have simply found both of their performances simply marvelous. Rest In Peace.

Follow Jeff on Twitter @JZimmerTX