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David Estrada Heads To
Mohegan Sun
For ShoBox Showdown With Chris Smith
Chicago native, Miami based welterweight David Estrada, 17-1
(8KO's) heads to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville,
Conn., on Friday, January 21st for a twelve round showdown
with Chris "The Mechanic" Smith, 19-0-1 (12KO's) of Queens,
New York, broadcast live as part of the increasingly popular
"ShoBox--The New Generation" live professional boxing series
headlining a card promoted by DiBella Entertainment.
SHOWTIME will televise at 11 p.m. ET/PT (tape delayed on
west coast). The telecast represents the 55th in the popular
“ShoBox” series, which debuted on SHOWTIME in July 2001.
The scheduled twelve round bout will be for the IBF # 2
ranking. Estrada currently holds the United Stated Boxing
Association Welterweight Title and is ranked # 7 by the
International Boxing Federation, its parent company. Smith
currently is ranked # 14 by the IBF and # 11 by the World
Boxing Organization and holder of the North American Boxing
Association welterweight belt.
Since losing a unanimous decision to Ishe Smith on July 31,
2003 in his ShoBox debut, his only loss as a professional,
Estrada has won two in a row, knocking out Nelson Manchego
this past May and winning a twelve round unanimous decision
over highly regarded and previously undefeated Nurhan
Suleymanoglu on July 15, 2004, in a bout seen on the ShoBox
series, winning in spectacular fashion by taking the last
ten rounds on the scorecards.
Speaking after a sparring session at the South Florida
Boxing Gym under the watchful eye of Hall of Fame trainer,
Angelo Dundee, the modest Estrada stated, "This is a great
opportunity for me. Smith is undefeated and very highly
thought of in boxing circles. A win over him shoots me up in
the rankings at welterweight and that's what my career needs
right now."
Although squarely focused on the task at hand, beating
Smith, Estrada spoke of the welterweight division, "A lot of
things are going to shake out in the next couple of months
with Spinks and Judah fighting again in February. Hopefully,
if I beat Smith I can get a title shot in the near future."
Of his boxing career so far, the 25 year old Estrada stated,
"The loss to Ishe Smith was a bit of a setback but the win
over Suleymanoglu got me back on track. He was the favorite
and it was supposed to be his night but I went in there and
took care of business much like my plan is for this fight
against Chris Smith. The fight is close to New York City
where he's from and he's never lost like Nurhan but if I
take care of business in the ring it won't matter how many
fans are there for him."
Speaking of growing up in Chicago, David said "there's a lot
of good fighters in Chicago, guys like David Diaz, Fres
Oquendo, Freddie Cuevas, Angel Hernandez--its great to see a
lot of fighters in Chicago having success."
Finally, when discussing other highly ranked welterweights
and prospective future opponents, Estrada said, "I'm
confident in my abilities that I can beat anyone at 147, I
just need to get in the ring with them."
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