Superfly 3 recap

Los Angeles California, Live From the “Fabulous” Forum Courtesy of Tom Loeffler and 360 promotions. The big stage was set for the little guys. If history was any indication Superfly 3 promised to deliver bell to bell action and that is exactly what happened. In the marquee bout, Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada (37-3 25KOs) entered a civil war with fellow Mexican countryman Felipe “Gallito” Orucuta. (36-5 30KOs) These Mexican warriors came ready for a hard fought battle to set up an opportunity against WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai but first they would need to get through each other. From the opening ring of the bell there was no feeling out process. Both men knew what needed to be done. Estrada coming off a fight of the year contender where he came up just short against Sor Rungvisai at Superfly 2 was looking for a decisive win to cement his rematch with the champion [Sor Rungvisai] Felipe Orucuta the heavy underdog wasn’t ready to make it a walk in the park. Orucuta proved more than worthy of being showcased tonight landing various clean shots, and flurries in the middle rounds in a fight most expected to end early. Ultimately Estrada would walk out victorious with a unanimous decision (117-111, 117-111, 118-110). Estrada now becomes the mandatory challenger for Sor Rungvisai’s WBC title.

In the Co Main event all eyes were on Donnie “The Snake” Nietes (41-1-5, 23 KOs) and “Mighty” Aston Palicte (24-2 20 KOs) who would go all 12 rounds as Nietes looked to become a champion in his fourth weight division, Nietes landed 194 of 523 (37%) total punches, including 112 of 281 (40%) of his power shots and 82 of 242 (34%) jabs. Palicte threw at a much higher rate but failed to make consistent contact. He landed with 89 of 423 (21%) of his power shots and landed 35 jabs at a 9% connect rate. While Compubox isn’t everything the numbers told the story of this fight fairly accurately as Nietes the much smaller of the two fighters with a sizable reach disadvantage greatly outlanded Palicte. In the end the judges would score the fight 114-114, 116-112 Palicte, and 118-110 for Nietes. Ending the highly anticipated contest with a very controversial split draw.

Tasked with opening the HBO boxing after dark broadcast were McWilliams Arroyo (17-3 23KOs) And Kazuto Ioka (22-1 13KOs) Arroyo fresh off a victory over Carlos Cuadras at Superfly 2 was the opponent selected for Ioka who made his US debut at tonight. In his first fight after an 18 month layoff. If there was any ring rust Ioka made certain that it didn’t show. Ioka pounded away at the body using stiff jabs to keep Arroyo at bay and fighting mostly off his back foot for the majority of the fight. In the final seconds of the third round Ioka caught an unsuspecting Arroyo with a neatly placed right hand to put him on the canvass, Arroyo would get up as the bell sounded to signal the end of the third. Ioka continued his sustained body assault through twelve rounds en route to a unanimous decision to take home the WBC Silver Super Flyweight title. The judges had it 97-92, 97-92, and 99-90 all in favor of Ioka.