With just two days to go until pound-for-pound star Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Juan Francisco Estrada meet in their highly-anticipated rematch at The Forum and live on DAZN in the US and Sky Sports in the UK, the media gathered in downtown Los Angeles for the final press conference.
Rungvisai (47-4-1, 41KOs) will defend his WBC and Ring Magazine Super Flyweight World titles against Estrada (38-3, 26 KOs) in the main event of the evening. In the co-main event of the night, Daniel Roman (26-2-1, 10KOs) and TJ Doheny (21-0, 15KOs) will meet to unify the WBA and IBF Super Bantamweight World titles.
Kicking off the main card at 9:30 p.m. ET on DAZN, former two-division World Champion Jessie Vargas (28-2-2, 10KOs) will move up to 154 pounds to conquer a new weight class when he faces off against veteran Humberto Soto (69-9-2, 37KOs).
The televised undercard of the evening will commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on DAZN with three fights before the main card begins at 9:30 p.m. ET.
SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI
“I feel great. I feel confident. This is my fourth time fighting in the United States and I hope you all come to watch the show.”
JUAN FRANCISCO ESTRADA
“I am so happy to be here fighting in Los Angeles again. I am actually able to be 100% for this fight. Last time I was dealing with injuries but now I am healthy. My trainers did a great job getting me ready for the rematch and I feel ready to win this time. Only two more days, I am anxious. I can’t wait to step on the scale and get that challenge out of the way before Friday night.”
DANIEL ROMAN
“I am excited. It’s finally here. Thank you to TJ for accepting this challenge. Every champion wants to unify and we both have a chance to do it. So let’s steal the show, TJ. Let’s do it because this is what we all do it for.”
TJ DOHENY
“I am looking forward to Friday night. It is great to be back in Los Angeles and under great circumstances. I have fought in New York, Tokyo, Boston and now I am coming to Los Angeles to unify titles and I am thrilled. I think Danny and I have the same mindset, we want to prove who is the best in the division. Danny likes to come forward, I like to be a craftsman but make no mistake, I can bang too. We will see what happens on Friday night on DAZN and I hope everyone tunes in to watch two of the best face off.”
JESSIE VARGAS
“I am happy to be back in the ring. Soto is a two-division World Champion, too. He is a veteran. We are two Mexican warriors and we are going to go to war on Friday night on DAZN. Shout out to Soto for springing the upset against Brandon Rios to make this fight happen and I can’t wait. Matchroom and DAZN are changing boxing and I am excited to be a part of this. Eddie had promised me things and he continues to come through with each and every thing that he has said.
“I need to take care of business against Soto. I have trained properly but nothing is certain. I want to get a title in my third weight division. I left Vegas for camp for the first time in my career to train in Los Angeles. I had a great training camp with my amazing trainer Freddie Roach and I am ready for Friday night.”
HUMBERTO SOTO
“I am very grateful to Matchroom and DAZN for giving me another chance to accomplish my dreams in the ring. I think this Friday the fans will be the winners, not me or Jessie Vargas. We are going to put on a show. I will leave it all in the ring on Friday night.”
JOSEPH MARKOWSKI (EVP, DAZN NORTH AMERICA)
“We are delighted to be here in Los Angeles. A lot is being made of next week in Las Vegas between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs, which I think will end up being named Fight of the Year. And a lot is being made of Anthony Joshua’s United States debut and Golovkin’s deal with DAZN and his return this June. But the amazing stretch starts in earnest this Friday at The Forum when we get a repeat of the best fight of 2018.
“We are delivering the best value for our subscribers and this stretch shows you how much you get for one-low price. For just $99.99 a year and $19.99 a month, DAZN subscribers will get the chance to watch Rungvisai, Canelo, Jacobs, Usyk, Joshua, Golovkin and more. On DAZN you get more than 100 fight nights a year from boxing to Bellator. We also offer daily baseball content with our new show ChangeUp, which is particularly valuable here in Los Angeles. Eddie did a great job outlining the tremendous stretch that is upcoming and we are excited to kick off this Friday.”
EDDIE HEARN (MATCHROOM BOXING USA)
“It is an honor to be here in Los Angeles. I flew 11 hours to get here from London but honestly would have flown 1,100 hours to be here for this. Top to bottom, I think that this is the best card of the year.
“When you look at the next seven weeks in boxing, DAZN has the best schedule without question. It might be one of the best stretches in boxing history in a long, long while.
“When have you ever seen this before in terms of value for subscribers? Never. DAZN gives you all of this for less than a hundred bucks a year. Rungvisai vs. Estrada, Roman vs. Doheny this Friday. We have a stacked card at The Forum to kick things off properly. Then next weekend you have what might go down as one of the best middleweight fights in history between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs.
“There’s literally more great fight nights than I can think of. We have Usyk making his heavyweight debut in Maryland on Memorial Day, Anthony Joshua making his United States debut at the nation’s most legendary arena, Madison Square Garden, and then the return of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. It is an incredible stretch and we are all excited to get going.”
ROBERT GASPARRI (COO, GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS)
“We are excited for this weekend’s fights as we get prepared for next weekend’s mega fight between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs at T-Mobile Arena on May 4, and only on DAZN.
DAZN have been great partners as we enter this new era of boxing. It is the Netflix of sports. Where else can you get Canelo Alvarez twice a year? Then you get Gennady Golovkin, Anthony Joshua and dozens of other amazing champions fighting more often.
“PPV is dead. If you are boxing fan, this is the future and DAZN is where you need to watch. You get great fights from Golden Boy, great fights from Matchroom Boxing, and it’s all available on DAZN.”
About DAZN:
DAZN is the largest global sports streaming platform in the world. Since launching in 2016, DAZN had expanded across four continents with the service available in the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Japan, and soon to debut in Brazil. DAZN guarantees no long-term contract, no bundles, just affordable access to all the service’s sports on connected devices including smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, games consoles and PCs. In the U.S., DAZN has made its mark as an attractive alternative to pay-per-view within the combat sports industry. The platform features more than 100 fight nights per year from Matchroom Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, GGG Promotions, Bellator MMA, the World Boxing Super Series and Combate Americas. DAZN also features live MLB action each day of the season with its new daily show, ChangeUp.
For more information, fans can follow DAZN’s U.S. social channels: @DAZNUSA on Facebook, @DAZN_USA for Twitter, and DAZN_USA for Instagram.
Tickets are on sale now prices from just $31 – to charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at www.fabulousforum.com or www.ticketmaster.com, and also at the Forum Box Office.
