Carlos Cuadras has been waiting patiently for his shot at revenge against WBC super-flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada and that moment will finally arrive when they clash at the TV Azteca Studios in Mexico City on Friday.
Cuadras (39-3-1, 27 KOs) and Estrada (40-3, 27 KOs) first met in September 2017 in Los Angeles. With the fight hanging in the balance, a knockdown in the tenth round proved decisive as Estrada edged out Cuadras by a single point on all three cards.
For Estrada, a successful title defence will lead to a long-awaited rematch with Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in 2021, but Cuadras is eyeing his own return with the Nicaraguan after their close call in September 2016, and insists he has the right gameplan to level the score with ‘El Gallo’.
“This is the fight I have been waiting for,” said Cuadras. “I am better prepared this time. I’m throwing a lot of punches in training. I’m throwing 12 rounds of sparring with three different guys. I’m doing a lot of mitt sessions.
“I think I’m going to arrive very fast and invincible and I’m going to give the Rooster his medicine. So, let the ‘Rooster’ take care because I’m going to tear his head off. It’s going to be an honour to win The Ring magazine and WBC belt as well.
“He can be a slow starter, but once he is in a rhythm, he is harder to fight. He’s good to the body and he has a good right hand, that’s the punch he put me down with in our first fight. I gave it my all in the first rounds, so I lost my energy for the second half, I went too hard from the start.
“He’s not going to get the rematch with Chocolatito – I am going to get my rematch with him, because people saw that I won that fight.”