Legendary little man and current 115-pound world title holder Juan Fransico Estrada could be next for WBA champ San Antonio's own "El Professor" Joshua Franco. According to a report from Izquierdazo.com, A unification bout between the WBA and WBC champ would be easy to make. Franco's trainer Robert Garcia said. Franco was robbed of a career-best win when two of the judges scored his New Year's Eve bout with WBO Super Flyweight champ Kaz Ioka a draw in Ioka's native Japan. The press, observers, and Ioka himself felt Franco should have been declared the winner. He should be the unified champ at 115.
Their performance by Franco was so impressive that he has been viewed and treated as the rightful winner. Perhaps the Texan is not looking to rematch with Ioka. Instead looking to unify with the WBC champion. The two were mandated to fight last year by the WBA. The bout went to pursue bids it was awarded to the highest bidder, Golden Boy Promotions. Estrada opted not to fight Franco, vacated his share of the WBA belt, and took a bout with a non-descript fighter named Argi Cortes in what appeared to most as a duck. After a tougher-than-expected challenge from Cortes, Estrada scored a career-best win over fellow legendary little man Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez to capture the vacant WBC title.
The San Antonian's trainer Robert Garcia, insists that the fight would be easy to make saying, "it's a very easy fight to make, we done have to negotiate with any promoter. We are free of a promoter. We just have to talk to Matchroom's Eddie Hearn and Fernando Beltran (CEO of Zanfer Boxing) so the fight can take place."
Estrada's WBC title was vacated by Franco's little brother Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, who won the belt in early 2022. He defended it twice before he opted to relinquish the belt and move down to his more natural weight of 112 pounds to challenge for the vacant WBO title.