Juan Francisco Estrada Overwhelms Giovani Segura, Ranks Among the Sport's Elite

There should be two flyweights on your pound-for-pound top-10 list. 

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez is one. The other, the best Mexican boxer in the world not named “Dinamita” Marquez, Juan Francisco Estrada. 

WBA and WBO flyweight champion “El Gallo” Estrada (27-2, 20 KO) stopped the resilient Giovani Segura in the 11th round Saturday night. Estrada completely outclassed his older opponent, a former pound-for-pounder himself after two savage knockouts of the brilliant Ivan Calderon. 

Segura (32-4-1, 28 KO) is a mauling southpaw who was victorious over Hernan “Tyson” Marquez in 2013’s Fight of the Year. His forte for violence is well documented but he wasn’t ready for the advanced skill set the 24-year-old Estrada carried into the ring with him.

The disparity in talent was apparent early. 

Estrada, one of boxing's leading ring generals, fired a long jab and stepped around and away from his opponent’s harmful left. Segura pressed forward but the younger Mexican slipped his looping hooks with ease and returned a left hand to the liver for his trouble. “El Gallito” ("the rooster") regained the center of the ring with a supple dip and step to his left and a straight right over the top, placing him almost behind his slower opponent. From here he applied such superb pressure, Segura rode his bicycle into the ropes.

Segura never goes backwards. Against this state-of-the-art fistic machine, he had no choice.

Along the ropes, Estrada blitzed Segura with a ferocious output typified by brawlers—not technicians—but with such technique not made possible without a genius mind. 

Things didn't look any better for Segura in Rounds 2 and 3. He looked ancient and the swift Mexican abused him wherever the fight went. He tried diligently to initiate a clinch but Estrada brushed off any hopes for that with bursts of rights and lefts. 

Segura found the slightest glimpse of anything remotely resembling success in the fourth. He met his foe in the center of the ring and the two traded wallops. “El Gallo’s” looked crisper but some of Segura’s curled punches crashed into his jaw. Estrada’s whiskers, though, were on full display. He’s taken “The Hawaiian Punch” Brian Viloria and combination-punching marvel Chocolatito Gonzalez’s best punches for a combined 24 rounds. These weren't a problem. 

Estrada continued to have his way with the former No. 1 light flyweight through the middle rounds. Estrada’s rhythmic head bobbing looked divine at times. Segura couldn't touch him. His feet were just as smooth. But they aren’t fleet just to be cute. They move with a purpose, applying pressure, forcing the direction of the fight. 

His combinations are stunning, brutal, and yet elegant by way of a style hard to put into words. Boxing.com’s Matt McGrain likely said it best: “Estrada has grace, but a grace built for war.” The contorted right side of Segura’s face at the end of Round 5 was a direct result of this.

The onslaught carried on in Rounds 6 and 7. Punches rolled off of Segura’s head. His right eye only got worse. It was a haunting reminder of that night against Viloria nearly three years ago.

The first minute of the eighth stanza saw an Estrada straight right send Segura stumble back three steps, a short right hook did the same in Round 10 and pure domination everywhere in between.

Segura was a broken man in the fateful 11th round. Lethargic, he held his hands almost below his hip. He was frail. His punches—when they weren’t hitting empty air—could hardly wipe the sweat off Estrada’s broad-shouldered frame. With less than two minutes to go in the round, “El Gallito” threw a right hand that forced Sergura into an oncoming left hook.

It snapped his head back and Segura staggered into the corner. Estrada wasn’t far behind and swarmed him with a four-punch combination on the ropes. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. waved off the fight as Segura’s corner threw in the towel. Everybody had seen enough.

The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board rates Segura as the sixth best flyweight in the world. And Estrada (No. 1) made him look like club-level fighter, giving up not a single round.

Just 24, “El Gallo’s” resume is incredible and he's easily one of the top-15 boxers on the planet. And he has an incredibly strong argument for top 10.

A look at the TBRB's pound-for-pound top 10 before this weekend's action:

1.	Floyd Mayweather	46-0-0 (26)	Junior Middleweight
2.	Andre Ward	27-0-0 (14)	Super Middleweight
3.	Manny Pacquiao	56-5-2 (38)	Welterweight
4.	Timothy Bradley	31-1-0 (12)	Welterweight
5.	Juan Manuel Marquez	56-7-1 (40)	Welterweight
6.	Carl Froch	33-2-0 (24)	Super Middleweight
7.	Wladimir Klitschko	62-3-0 (52)	Heavyweight
8.	Guillermo Rigondeaux	14-0-0 (9)	Junior Featherweight
9.	Danny Garcia	29-0-0 (17)	Junior Welterweight
10.	Roman Gonzalez	40-0-0 (34)	Flyweight

Estrada doesn't have the sustained success and/or depth of quality opposition as some of the bottom half of the TBRB's pound-for-pound list like Bradley, Marquez, Froch or Klitschko but his resume is nearing in on some of them.

In 2013, he upset the outstanding Brian Viloria, who at the time rated as one of the pound-for-pound 10 best fighters in the world by most who knew what they were talking about. He entirely outfought the former WBA, WBO, IBF and WBC world champion despite the atrocious 117-111 scorecard Francisco Martinez turned in for Viloria.

Danny Garcia, ranked No. 9 by the TBRB, can't match Estrada's win over a pound-for-pound claimant like that. Lucas Matthysse comes close but ultimately falls short. The Argentine slugger has never been the best fighter at 140 pounds, let alone one of the 10 best fighters in the world. With Gonzalez's imminent rise into the top-five following his stellar performance this weekend, "El Gallito" should slide in above Garcia. And he's got a bit of depth to back it up.

After his triumph over Viloria, he defeated the tactical Milan Melindo, the seventh-rated flyweight in the world at the time by The Ring Magazine. The Philippine Melindo still rates as a borderline top-10 contender today. And at flyweight—the deepest division in boxing—that means more than being a fringe top-10 fighter in another weight class.

Dennis Ho/Associated Press

Following his 12-round unanimous-decision victory over Melindo, Estrada stopped another tough Philippine in Richie Mepranum who dealt “Tyson” Marquez his first career loss.

Now you can add an 11-round pummeling of another top-10 flyweight in Segura to that resume. And then there’s Roman Gonzalez.

On the back of Gonzalez’s beating of Akira Yaegashi—winning a world title in his third weight class—Chocolatito propelled himself into the upper echelon of boxing’s elite. Look for him to break into most reputable publication’s top-five pound-for-pound lists, even as high as No. 3. He’s more than worthy of such acclaim.

“El Gallo” and Gonzalez met up and traded fists in late 2012 and it was extremely competitive. Gonzalez clearly finished the stronger of the two. But Estrada, then just 22, forced the action enough to steal most of, if not the entire first half of the fight.

Dennis Ho/Associated Press

With every victory for the Nicaraguan since, Estrada looks better and better for it and vice versa after performances like Estrada’s this weekend.

Toru Takahashi/Associated Press

A rematch between the two is the biggest fight boxing has to offer. 

It was the obvious match to make following Estrada’s victory Saturday night. But Gonzalez reportedly will, instead, be taking on the exhilarating former WBA flyweight champion Luis Concepcion on Nov. 22, per BoxingScene.com.

It’s a relatively quick turnaround for the flyweight kingpin. So Gonzalez-Estrada II still might not be too far away.

Even more exciting is the winner would still be in their mid-to-late 20s and a promising inheritor to Floyd Mayweather’s title as the world’s very best fighter.