Juan Francisco Estrada: I can beat Srisaket Sor Rungvisai with good movement

Juan Francisco Estrada (Photo by Chris Farina)

Jan

LOS ANGELES — Juan Francisco Estrada has a dream.

He wants to be the next boxing idol from Mexico, following in footsteps of an all-time great like Julio Cesar Chavez and now Canelo Alvarez.

To achieve his goal, he knows there’s far more to accomplish, and that begins with his next outing.

He challenges Srisaket Sor Rungvisai for the WBC 115-pound title on February 24 in the second installment of Superfly on HBO, and the matchup shapes up as one of the best on the calendar in the new year.

“I think to get (to my dream), I need to win this fight and win that championship, make as many defenses as I can, maybe unify some titles, and I think I’ll get there eventually,” Estrada told RingTV.com through veteran publicist Ricardo Jimenez, who translated.

“I think all of us want to be part of the best fighters in the world and I think little by little I’m getting there.”

Estrada (36-2, 25 knockouts) scored a victory over Carlos Cuadras in September on the first Superfly card to earn the title shot. Now, the former two-division champion is matched up against Sor Rungvisai, the Thai fighter who ended Roman Gonzalez’s reign as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport.

Sor Rungvisai is ranked No. 10 on THE RING’s pound-for-pound list, and Estrada knows just how big of a challenge he poses.

The 31-year-old is strong, possesses big power and is as durable as they come. Estrada, 27, believes his opponent had the perfect style for “Chocolatito.”

“Everybody knows that he’s a hard puncher so you have to be smart in there, good boxer, good movement, and I think like that I can beat him,” said Estrada, who dropped a close decision to Gonzalez in 2012 at 108 pounds. “He’s fighting the best fighters in the world. He fought the best pound-for-pound and now he’s going to fight me.

“I think that they’re going to be great fights. When you get to this level, all fights are tough, but I think we’re capable of making a great fight.”

“Gonzalez had his time, he was winning some great fights and he made it to that level, but now it’s my time to make it to that level. Let’s see if he comes back, we can have another shot at it.”