Danny Roman Unifies Title, Estrada Wins Rematch and Other Results from L.A.

Southern California’s native son Danny Roman out-slugged Ireland’s TJ Doheny in a brutal back and forth battle to unify the super bantamweight titles by majority decision on Friday. Roman. the WBA title-holder, added the IBF title to his collection.

Making his fourth defense of his WBA title, Roman (27-2-1, 10 KOs)  couldn’t have asked for a tougher foe than Doheny (21-1, 15 KOs) whose ability to take a shot to the head astounded the more than 5,000 fans at the Inglewood Forum.

But it was the body that did him in.

In this year of unification fights going viral, the willingness of the two super bantamweights to add gasoline to this year’s bonfire of boxing found another contribution and it was extremely volatile.

Roman was making his fourth defense of the WBA title he won in Japan two years ago and Doheny was making his second defense since winning in Japan last year. Both wanted to add to their growing legend.

The two 122-pound human bullets were slow to burn in the first round but in round two Roman increased the tempo and caught Doheny with a long left hook right on the chin and down he went. It was a perfect blow but did not hurt the Irish fighter. He quickly got up but it gave Roman a quick lead.

For the past three years those who have seen Roman perform know he builds momentum by attacking the body and slowing sapping the energy from his foes. Doheny, unlike the others, uses movement to avoid body shots.

Doheny mounted a counter-attack in the fourth round and it finally showed the crowd why he held the IBF world title. The southpaw’s left cross arrives as if delivered from a handheld rocket launcher. One caught Roman flush and Doheny followed it up a with a half dozen more rocket left hands. Roman was on his heels and Doheny did not let up. Then a missed punch allowed Roman to reset and mount his own rally but the bell rang ending the frame.

The crowd realized it was not going to be easy for either fighter.

Both fighters erupted in the fifth round and exchanged inside with savage abandon. After some vicious exchanges for three minutes Doheny departed to his corner with a bloodied nose.

Not until the eighth round did Roman finally find his rhythm and began to mow through Doheny’s defense and stream of left hands. First he used multiple left hooks, then switched to multiple rights to offset Doheny’s lefts.

As Doheny began to stop using his legs to avoid body shots Roman began lowering his target and attacked the body with left hooks whenever possible. A hint of pain seemed to cross the Irish fighter’s face when hooks from Roman found their mark.

Finally, in the 11^th round a left hook from Roman saw the Irish fighter slump to the mat in pain. Referee Raul Caiz gave the count but the Irish fighter was not close to quitting. The fight continued and Roman seemed in control.

The last round saw both try to take control and end the fight with a convincing round. Each had their moment but it was perhaps the closest round since the third round. After 12 rounds the judges surprisingly had it close at 113-113, 116-110 twice for Roman. The native Californian is now the WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion.

New Super Fly Champion

The WBC super flyweight title changed hands as Mexico’s Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada dethroned Thailand’s powerful Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, otherwise known as Wisaksil Wangek, by unanimous decision after 12 back and forth rounds.

Unlike their first encounter a year ago, Estrada came out smoking with a toe-to-toe barrage of blows in the opening round that caught most of the audience off guard. Their first fight saw Estrada box and move and stay out of Sor Rungvisai’s range. This time it was fire versus fire.

The second round saw the Thai champion connect with the big blows and that ended the toe-to-toe affair quickly. Still, Estrada was not the tentative fighter that fans saw back in February 2018 when Sor Rungvisai won by majority decision in the same arena. Not this time.

Estrada had the confidence knowing that he could exchange blows with the Thai fighter that many consider one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world, especially after his demolition of Nicaragua’s Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. The Mexican super flyweight had tasted Sor Rungvisai’s power and it was no longer a mystery. Though not ignorant with his attacks, he still took chances when necessary and it paid off.

Neither fighter was able to knock each other down or cause visible injury but Estrada from the fifth to the eighth round took total control of the fight with his ability to slip and counter on Sor Rungvisai. It seemed that Estrada would breeze through the rest of the fight.

The Thai champion made his counter-attack in the ninth round with powerful single blows that snapped the head back of Estrada when they connected. For the next three rounds he regained control of the fight and the pace. The momentum changed abruptly..

Mexican fans screamed “El Gallo” in unison as Estrada and Sor Rungvisai exchanged big blows. Despite each landing solid blows neither was ever seriously hurt. After 12 rounds the judges scored it 116-112, 115-113 twice for Estrada by unanimous decision and making him the new WBC super flyweight world champion.

“I’m very happy for this win. I worked very hard for this fight,” said Estrada who is a former flyweight world champion as well. “I’ll take a rematch with him but I prefer a unification match.”

Las Vegas’ Vargas Wins

Jessie Vargas (29-2-2), a former welterweight and super lightweight world titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Humberto Soto (69-10-2) in the sixth round of a super welterweight contest.

It was a battle between former world champions and Vargas was coming off back to back draws against Adrien Broner and Thomas Dulorme. This time he was facing Soto who had just defeated Brandon Rios two months ago in Tijuana. It shocked the boxing world.

But lightning didn’t strike twice for Mexico’s Soto who was caught with a lead right cross by Vargas that dropped him in the sixth round. Soto beat the count but was corralled by Vargas who unleashed an eight punch barrage that made referee Tom Taylor end the fight at 1:48 of round six.

“He came in and I caught him with a right hand,” said Vargas who lives in Las Vegas.

Other Bouts

Ronny Rios (30-3) won by knockout over Daniel Olea (13-8-2) at the end of round five in a featherweight contest when Olea did not answer the bell for round six.

Argentina’s Alberto Melian (5-0) knocked down Southern California’s Isaac Zarate (16-5-3) then was knocked down himself in the later rounds. After 10 back and forth super bantamweight frames Melian won by unanimous decision 95-92 twice and 94-93 to retain the NABA super bantamweight title.

Former Olympic silver medalist Shakhram Giyasov (8-0) discovered there’s a big difference from amateurs to pros when he was tagged in the first round by Maryland’s Emanuel Taylor (20-6) and staggered around the ring. For the next nine rounds Giyashov unleashed his flamboyant combinations and won rounds but was always vulnerable to return fire from Taylor. More than a few times Taylor’s left hooks put the Uzbekistan star on wobbly grounds in their super lightweight fight.

After 10 rounds two judges scored it 99-91 for Giyasov and another 97-93 for the Uzbekistani and new owner of the WBA International title.

Super middleweight contender Anthony Sims Jr. had rough waters with St. Louis veteran Vaughn Alexander but he muddled through the listless fight that drew boos from the crowd for inactivity. After 10 rounds the judges scored it 98-92 twice and 96-94 for Sims who trains in Compton, Calif.

South Central L.A.’s Diego Pacheco (3-0) needed only 1:46 to put the drop on Seattle’s Guillermo Maldonado (1-1) and win by knockout in the first round of their middleweight fight. A left hook started the downfall for Maldonado and then a crushing right cross ended the fight. Referee Jerry Cantu did not bother to count. Pacheco brought several hundred fans to the Forum which is located in Inglewood, a city adjacent to South Central L.A. where Pacheco lives.

Former amateur star Austin Williams (1-0) took his first dip into the professional pool and dunked Joel Guevara (3-5-1) once in the first round before referee Ray Corona decided to stop the one-sided battering at 2:06 of the frame. A four punch barrage by the southpaw Williams of Houston floored West Virginia’s Guevara. He beat the count but looked tentative after that in the middleweight match.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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