Following a knee injury sustained in training by Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, former unified world champion and #1 ranked Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada, (37-3, 25 KOs), of Sonora, Mexico will step in to face cross-town Mexican rival Victor ‘Spock’ Mendez, (28-3-2, 20 KOs), also of Sonora, Mexico in a ten-round super-flyweight clash on Saturday, December 8 emanating from the StubHub Center in Carson, CA. The tripleheader will be televised live on HBO’s final boxing telecast.
“It’s unfortunate that Roman suffered this knee injury in training, he was in great shape and very excited to fight again after his ‘Knockout of the Year’ victory on September 15 in Las Vegas,” said promoter Tom Loeffler. “However, Juan Francisco Estrada and Victor Mendez have both been in training for upcoming fights and each eagerly jumped at the opportunity to fight each other.”
“This will be Juan Francisco’s fourth consecutive fight on HBO, the first coming at the StubHub Center at SUPERFLY 1 in his outstanding battle and victory over Carlos Cuadras. He’s fought on every SUPERFLY show and is always in exciting fights which has made him very popular with boxing fans who will be thrilled to see him fight again on December 8.”
Said Estrada, “Everything happens for a reason, my fight fell scheduled in Mexico fell through but now I have a bigger opportunity on HBO. I’ve had a great training camp and can’t wait to fight Victor Mendez. We’ve known each other for years and now get to settle who is the best super flyweight from Mexico.”
“Juan Francisco Estrada is a great champion and I’ve wanted to fight him for a long time,” said the 25-year-old Mendez. “I’ve heard many great things about the outstanding battles and great fans at the StubHub Center and look forward to fighting there on December 8 and on HBO.”
Estrada is currently world ranked #1 by the World Boxing Council.
The 28-year-old Estrada is coming off a dominant 12-round decision over Felipe Orucuta on September 8 at SUPERFLY 3. Prior to that, the 28-year-old Estrada challenged WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on February 24 at SUPERFLY 2, losing a hotly contested 12-round majority decision in a sure-fire ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate that had the huge crowd at the Forum in Inglewood, CA on their feet cheering throughout. Both fights were featured as the main event on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
Mendez has won nine of his last ten bouts including his last four in a row. Most recently he knocked out Alberto Ascanio in the third round on June 1, 2018. In 2014, he battled current world champion Luis Nery in an eight-round clash losing by very close majority decision.
UNDISPUTED is headlined by undisputed women’s welterweight world champion ‘The First Lady’ Cecilia Braekhus (34-0, 9 KOs) defending her titles (WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO) against two-time world title challenger, Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes, (18-4-3, 1 KO), a native of Gilwice, Poland, now based in Marshfield, MA in the televised ten-round main event. Magdziak-Lopes also holds a victory over Braekhus’ recent opponent Kali Reis.
Opening the HBO Boxing After Dark telecast, two-time United States Olympic gold medalist and WBC/IBF/WBA women’s middleweight world champion Claressa Shields, (7-0, 2 KOs), of Flint, MI faces WBO women’s super-middleweight world champion Femke Hermans, (9-1, 3 KOs), of Londerzeel, Belgium in a ten-round middleweight world title clash.
Headlining the undercard, Southern California fan favorite Louisa ‘Bang Bang Lulu’ Hawton, (8-2-0, 4 KOs), of Perth, Australia will now face Lorraine Villalobos, (2-1-0) of Los Angeles in a ten-round WBC atomweight world title bout. In her last fight Hawton clashed with Brenda Flores at SUPERFLY 3 on September 8, 2018 at the Forum in Los Angeles losing a very close and controversially scored decision in the world title fight for which the WBC ordered an immediate rematch. The previously announced rematch for December 8 has been postponed due to a recent illness suffered by Flores.