This official Houston Post photo, dated March 8, 2022 is captioned as follows: The 10 Houston Regional Golden Gloves Champions and their two coaches get together before heading for the state tournament, which begins Thursday in Fort Worth. Back row, from left, are Jesse Montemayor, 112 pound division; Clayton Wright, 118; Bill Armstrong, 124; Donald Sayles, 132; Front row, from left, are Rev. Ray Martin, coach; Terrance Garrick, heavyweight; Anthony Wiley, 139; Oscar Trevino, 147; Deryl Brumley, 154; Frankie King, 165; Robert Moore, 175; and Kenny Weldon, coach. The team leaves Tuesday Houston Post photo: Bill Thompson
EL GALLO ESTRADA OUTPOINTS CHOCOLATITO BY SPLIT DECISION IN 2021 FIGHT OF THE YEAR
The rivalry is now tied up at 1-1, setting up for a tie-breaker if Estrada can get passed mandatory challenger Rungvisai in his next bout
photo credit: @staceymsnyder
On what would become a sad day in boxing after the announcement of the passing of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, “El Gallo” Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez went to “WAR” for twelve rounds in what will surely be the 2021 Fight of The Year.
El Gallo and Chocolatito fought on even terms displaying elite skill, technique, and work-rate, throwing over 2000 punches combined in twelve rounds of war. El Gallo came out strong from the first round on, throwing and landing heavy punches and getting the better of the first half of the fight. Chocolatito finally found his groove at the bout’s mid-point when he began landing his heavy punches while walking down El Gallo, moving in behind a high guard. Although El Gallo took the first half of the fight and Chocolatito the second half, both men were competitive in every round and there were rounds during the first half that could have been judged for Chocolatito and by the same account, many of the rounds during the second half could have been scored for El Gallo.
In the end we were treated to what will surely be 2021 fight of the year, and the split decision win for El Gallo was greatly deserved, despite the clearly biased and piss-poor commentary by Chris Mannix of DAZN.
Mannix didn’t even try to hide his favoritism of Chocolatito, applauding every move made by the Nicaraguan, while largely ignoring the combination punching and high work rate of El Gallo Estrada. There were literally points in the bout when Estrada would land four and five punch combinations and the broadcast crew of Mannix and Sergio Mora would either completely ignore the punches, or only give credit to Estrada for the last punch landed, but then quickly making sure to mention Chocolatito immediately after.
But again, an amazing performance by both men in a twelve round “WAR” that the late Marvelous Marvin Hagler would have been proud of!
Houston Regional Golden Gloves Champions 1936-1939
Open Division
| 1936 | |
| Flyweight | Wayne Mixon |
| Bantamweight | Emery Latiolais |
| Featherweight | Tom Walker |
| Lightweight | Frank Pierron |
| Welterweight | Authur Dorrell |
| Middleweight | Chester Hayes |
| Light Heavyweight | Earl Crowe |
| Heavyweight | Max Roesch |
| 1937 | |
| Flyweight | Wayne Mixon |
| Bantamweight | Ray Bumpers |
| Featherweight | Jesse Williamson |
| Lightweight | Elby Pettaway |
| Welterweight | Phillip Benestante |
| Middleweight | Raymond Oest |
| Light Heavyweight | Frank Thomas |
| Heavyweight | Dalton Singleton |
| 1938 | |
| Flyweight | Wayne Mixon |
| Bantamweight | Sam Sakowitz |
| Featherweight | Jesse Williamson |
| Lightweight | Hank Duboise |
| Welterweight | Elby Pettaway |
| Middleweight | Calvin Benefield |
| Light Heavy | Billy Colbert |
| Heavyweight | Frank Thomas |
| 1939 | |
| Flyweight | Ray Bumpers |
| Bantamweight | Jesse Ramos |
| Featherweight | Jesse Williamson |
| Lightweight | Raymond Darnell |
| Welterweight | Babe Benestante |
| Middleweight | Elby Petteway |
| Light Heavy | Billy Colbert |
| Heavyweight | Hayden Harper |
El Gallo vs Chocolatito II
They run it back in Dallas, Texas on March 13, 2022
While the majority of current boxing fans focus on the social media soap operas between boxing’s up and coming generation, two of the boxing’s pound for pound best in Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez are winding down camps for their long awaited rematch on March 13, 2022 in Dallas, Texas.
Their first match took place in 2012 with Chocolatito earning a unanimous decision in a bout that was more evenly fought than the unanimous decision would indicate. At the time the first bout was fought Chocolatito was considered to be either in the top ten pound for pound in the world or on the cusp of being there. El Gallo was relatively unknown and wasn’t really considered to be anything special, but he put on a special performance that night, while proving that he belonged in their with the best in the world in the super-flyweight division.
That bout was also the beginning of the unofficial super-flyweight, world championship tournament between Nicaragua’s Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez, Mexico’s Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada and Carlos “El Principe” Cuadras, and Thailand’s Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
These four men have won and lost to each other in the last nine years in epic bouts that have brought on comparisons to “The Four Kings” series of bouts in the 80’s between Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns.
Both “El Gallo” and “Chocolatito” as well as Cuadras and Rungvisai, operate at the highest levels of boxing technique, skill, and knowledge, while fighting with a ferocity and pace that’s uncommon in today’s boxing landscape. Although the super-flyweight division doesn’t get the attention and recognition it deserves, it’s a matter of fact that bouts fought at the level of ability, ferocity, and pace that these four have fought are seldom seen in the more propagated heavier divisions of boxing.
“El Gallo” is a slight betting favorite but this bout is a 50/50 bout between two of boxing’s elite practitioners and a bout that is heavily anticipated by boxing purists. Those who understand, recognize and enjoy the finer aspects of the art of boxing, without the low brow dramatics that seem to have become the norm in today’s boxing world.
While we wait for the rematch, enjoy the first fight, held in Los Angeles, California on November 17, 2012.