Golden Boy wins Estrada-Franco Purse Bid, Opens Many Possibilities

After WBA Bantamweight World Champion Joshua Franco and WBA Super Champ Juan Francisco Estrada were granted a 24-hour period to come to an agreement for the mandated match and avoid purse bids, an agreement was not reached and the bout went to purse bids and was won by Golden Boy early on Tuesday. It appears the fight will take place in either June or July with a few locations being discussed including Nevada, California, or Franco's hometown of San Antonio. 

The situation begins to get cloudy as the lower than anticipated purse bids may cause Estrada to walk away from the fight and vacate the "super" version of the belt. That would likely leave a fight between Franco and legendary four-division world champ Chocloatito Gonzalez who is ranked number one in the division by the WBA. As confusing as this all sounds it could actually end up being a home run for San Antonio fight fans and a dream come true for the brothers. Matchroom Boxing, which promotes Bam Rodriguez, is headed by Eddie Hearn, who has openly discussed the possibility of staging a massive doubleheader with Franco plus WBC junior bantamweight titlist Rodriguez. Rodriguez is scheduled to take on former world champ Srisaket sor Rungvisai. A doubleheader featuring the two brothers would be a massive draw and could realistically dwarf the roughly 15,000 seats that the Ryan Garica sold for his April 9th, fight in the Alamodome.  

The brothers have not fought in San Antonio on the same card yet. With each brother holding a major world title, the timing does seem perfect. Especially when a massive card that could feature Franco vs Chocolatito and Rodriguez vs Sor Rungvisai would be a ticket sale and ratings bonanza. Franco sports a record of 18-1-2 (8), and has fought in the Alamo city just once he destroyed and stopped Jose Alejandro Burgos in January of 2020 on the undercard of Mungia-O'Sullivan. Rodriguez, 15-0 (10)  scored a sensational knockout of Cesar Garcia Torrijos, on a TMB card in nearby Floresville in 2019 and a year early on a Mikey Garcia promoted card Rodriguez scored a first-round knockout of Santiago Sanchez Bayardo of Corpus Christi, at the Mi Mercado Event Center, on the west-side of San Antonio. 

Rodriguez confirmed that he was being scheduled to fight around the same time “I haven’t heard anything yet but I know I’m going to be fighting sometime around June,” Rodriguez said and went on to confirm "They’re working on a doubleheader with me and my brother. Franco, confirmed his little brother's sentiment adding “There have been talks of the fight coming here [San Antonio] and my brother being on the show. That would be amazing. We’re confident it will come here.” There are still plenty of details to work out and some things that have to fall in place but it seems like a realistic possibility at the moment.

Joshua Franco to battle Estrada

Bam Rodriguez defeated a super flyweight legend and now big brother, Joshua Franco, will get his chance to do the same. In what will be a mega-fight for the 115-pound division the two WBA champs will collide as Franco puts his WBA belt on the line against Estrada who will put his "Super" world title on the line. The two sides have until March 11th to come to terms. 

Estrada is coming off of a sensational career-best win over "Chocolatito" Roman Gonzalez, as controversial as it was, many thought Chocolatito was the rightful winner, Estrada unified WBC, and WBA belts in what was a fight of the year candidate and he exacted revenge on a previous loss. Prior to the Estada scored a sensational come from behind victory of Carlos Cuadras in 2020. Cuadras was thoroughly outclassed by Franco's younger brother last week in Phoenix. Estrada was scheduled to have an epic trilogy with Gonzalez. However back in September Chocolatito caught covid postponing the scheduled fight. The trilogy match was rescheduled for March 5th however back in late January Estrada tested positive for COVID. He was replaced by Julio Cesar Martinez and the card is scheduled to take place in San Diego. That left Estrada out in the cold.

Promoter Eddie Hearn was asked if he could snap his fingers and make any fighter for Rodriguez, he said without hesitation Estrada in San Antonio. Going on to say the fight will be "huge!" Instead, it's Rodriguez's older and more experienced brother Josh Franco who secured the bout. Franco was originally scheduled to fight the winner of the Estrada-Gonzalez trilogy but when Estrada had to pull out with covid that fell through. That, however, cleared the way for the WBA to call the unification bout of sorts between Franco, 18-1-2 (8) and Estrada 42-3 (28). 

Franco last fought in August in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and defeated Andrew Maloney in a trilogy match via unanimous decision. A performance both he and famed trainer Robert Garcia described as the best performance of his career. He had previously won the world title from Maloney to capture the WBA belt in June of 2020, in Top Rank's bubble in Las Vegas. The two rematched five months later but the bout was declared a no-decision as a result of a hellacious head butt that broke Franco's orbital bone. Franco set the record straight in the third bout with a dominant UD victory.