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ESPN Friday Night Fights Recap

April 6, 2007

Mohegan Sun Arena-Uncasville, Connecticut

Heavyweight (200+ pounds) 6-Round Match:

Zack Page (12-11-2, 4 KO's, 205 pounds) vs. Jason Estrada (7-1, 1 KO, 239 pounds)

The tale of a lot of the boxers on this show has been inactivity. Page has actually, been very active recently. He won a fight in 4 rounds via TKO six days before this fight. He draws Godfrey's best friend growing up in Estrada from Providence, Rhode Island. Estrada represented the United States of America as the super heavyweight boxer in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Estrada is coming off his first loss as a pro, but clearly has a ton of experience as an amateur. Estrada will likely have seen a lot of what can come at him in the ring with that outstanding amateur pedigree. Thatshould include how to rebound from tough losses.

Estrada has a world of potential and so far has disappointed with an apparent suspect work ethic. Estrada is not one of the bigger punchers in the division despite his size. His size, has also been the most obvious showing of a questionable work ethic. Showing up at recent fights as high as 257 pounds. in his last fight, five months ago. For a fighter built on speed carrying extra mass, is not a good thing. This fight though, sees him at 239 pounds, which is much better. This is the lowest fighting weight off his career for this fight, but he could definitely shave a few more pounds. Teddy Atlas thinks Estrada is getting close to the right weight he needs to be at to fight effectively.

Page is essentially a cruiserweight who had a big breakfast before the weigh in. The hopefully, quick healer, has fought as low as 188 pounds and that is without cutting weight. Page took this fight on three days notice, but it means he was not that far removed from the gym. Unfortunately, in the time between the weigh in for that fight, six days prior, and the weigh in for this fight he gained seven pounds. He apparently had several big breakfasts. The reason Page is being allowed to compete in this fight is that he went less then 4 full rounds in the last fight and this fight is only scheduled for 6 rounds. The local tribal commission limits a boxer to ten rounds per week and hence the length of this match.

Round 1 to Estrada, 10-9. Round 2 to Estrada, 10-9. Round 3 to Estrada, 10-9. Estrada needs a knockout in this fight to really prove something. Round 4 to Estrada, 10-9. Early in round 5, Page is cautioned for leading with his head. The punch track numbers are then shown and the heavyweight built on quickness has in twelve minutes thrown as many punches as Buendia did in the opening five minutes of his match. Estrada for some reason breaking a clinch in round 5 throws Page to the mat. Estrada is warned for the infraction and told should it occur again he will have a meaningless point deducted. Estrada has now thrown low body punches, one of which appeared to land well below the belt of Page. Estrada was given a casual admonishment for it, but is now just straight up fighting dirty and there is no other way to describe it. I have no idea what is going through Estrada's mind, but these are clearly intentional issues in this round. Still Round 5 to Estrada, 10-9. Atlas through 5 rounds has the fight scored 50-45 for Estrada. A much cleaner round 6 goes to Estrada, 10-9.

The official decision from the judges scorecards is: 60-54, 60-54, 60-54; all for the winner by unanimous decision Jason Estrada. Estrada has all the talent in the world, but even in completely dominating the fight this showing seemed disappointing to me. Estrada came in more in shape than ever before, but still has some things to work on long term. The workrate seemed less than impressive seeing the great action earlier in the show and the fact that Estrada should be better than all of the earlier fighters. Especially since, he was facing the least heralded fighter on the card. Estrada is young and will get better. He definitely has the tools to be a heavyweight champion in several years.