Tyrese Hendrix vs Walter Estrada
Welcome to our weekly coverage of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights. Up first is Tyrese Hendrix (20-2-1, 9 KOs) against journeyman Walter Estrada (38-14-1, 35 KOs), who took the fight on nine days notice after Prentice Brewer pulled out of the opening bout with an injury. Scheduled for eight rounds at 140 lbs.
Round 1: Fairly tentative first round, Hendrix looks like a fighter while Estrada has clearly seen better days. If it’s possible for a fighter to look shot before the opening bell he has managed it. Late flurry from Estrada steals the round.
Round 2: Estrada opens with a flurry of wild punches that score but don’t appear to do much damage. A left hand to the body with a minute left looked a bit more effective. The Colombian is working his way into this fight; Hendrix may be taking it a bit too easy. 20-18 Estrada.
Round 3: Hendrix is just not busy enough to win these rounds. Estrada keeps coming with chopping lefts and rights that may not do much damage but they are scoring. A loss here would decimate Tyrese’s career trajectory, so he may want to start taking some risks and try puttin Estrada on his ass. 30-27 Estrada.
Round 4: Estrada is winning this fight solely on guts and effort. He throws wide looping punches and leaves himself wide open for the counter but Hendrix hasn’t pulled the trigger. He throws a bit more this round, but we’ve still got the Mexican comfortable ahead. 40-36 Estrada.
Round 5: Hendrix actually comes out throwing combinations and lands a couple heavy lefts. He has finally realized he’s in a fight. Teddy Atlas reminds us that southpaws usually don’t fight well against each other, but Estrada seems to be handling it just fine. Tyrese backs off a bit for the second half of the round, still too content to let Estrada dictate the pace. Score it for Hendrix, his best round so far: 49-46 Estrada.
Round 6: More action this round as both men are starting to stand in the middle and trade a bit more. Estrada is still busier; if Hendrix doesn’t dig deep and sore a knockdown he might be headed home with his third loss. Close round, we give to Estrade. 59-55 Estrada.
Round 7: Estrada misses with a wild punch and tumbles to the mat; ref rules it a slip. Some back and forth but Hendrix is still not pressing the action. He’s not known as a puncher, but Estrada has been stopped multiple times to the body and is available to be hit. Hendrix doesn’t seem to understand the situation; in our view he’s losing this fight going away and needs a KO in the final round to win. 69-64 Estrada.
Round 8: Estrada should have this fight comfortably in hand if the judges are watching the same fight as us. Hendrix is landing the occasional left but he barely throws any punches compared to Estrada, who is landing his fair share. Neither man appears to have been hurt at all. Teddy Atlas has Estrada up by one round, which is questionable.
Estrada dancing a bit more, he seems to know he has the lead. Hendrix still pretty content to stalk the Mexican slowly with his hands down and try to land the one-two. Estrada backs Hendrix into the corner and lands a nice combination. He is showing a lot of intelligence this round by avoiding Hendrix and tying him up.
We give Hendrix the round but Estrada the fight, 78-74. Judges agree 79-73, 77-75, and 78-74.
This was a late substitution so we’ll cut ESPN some slack, but you will seldom see a nationally televised fight of lower quality. Up there with some of the worst dogs we’ve covered. Everything was set up for Hendrix to impress and instead he was a no-show.
Can’t see a road back from this for Hendrix. He’s lost three out of his last five fights and appears well on his way to opponent status. Estrada is already there but this win should at least guarantee him another good paycheck, which is clearly why he’s in the ring.