After Bam Rodriguez, 19-0 (12) of San Antonio, dismantled Sunny Edwards back in December 16th to become the unified Flyweight champion, he seemed eager and set on fighting legendary, pound-for-pound great and future Hall Of Famer Juan Francisco Estrada. That fight is now under negotiations and appears likely to happen according to inside sources. Rodriguez is expecting his first child, a daughter, in April, and the fight looks to be targeted for the summer, likely in July. No official date or location has been mentioned. Estrada, of Mexico, sports a 44-3 (28) record. He last fought 14 months ago and won the vacant WBC Super Flyweight by narrowly outpointing the legendary Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez. Estrada was criticized back in 2022 for apparently ducking Bam's older brother Joshua Franco after Golden Boy had won the purse bid and Estrada opted to vacate his WBA belt instead of squaring off with Franco and opting for largely unknown Argi Cortes. Following the Cortes fight, Estrada followed up and outpointed Chocolatito to win the WBC belt. That was ironically vacated by the San Antonian when he moved down to 112 pounds. Rodriguez will look to recapture the belt he vacated that was then won by the man who openly ducked his brother.
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.