WBA super Flyweight world titleholder "El Professor" Joshua Franco is just 25 years old and is about to do something most world-class fighters don't do in their entire career. When he steps into the ring against former WBA Super Flyweight champion Andrew Maloney, the San Antonio native will be partaking in his second trilogy. Despite it just being his 21st professional fight he will have completed a trilogy with the durable Oscar Negrete and former world champ Andrew Maloney. In just his last seven fights dating back to the Fall of 18 Franco has fought two fighters six times. Even more shockingly the Texan hasn't lost a single one of these fights. He is 2-0-2 with one ND. The no decision was against Maloney last November and was the rematch of their thrilling fight earlier in the year in Which El Professor took his Australian rival to class. Beating him up and dropping him on his way to taking a unanimous decision.
Franco fought rugged contender Oscar Negrete in 2018 and twice more in 2019. fighting him to a draw in the first fight and then outpointing him in the rematch in April of '19 and then settling for a disputed draw with him just three and a half months later. Mixing in a sensational knockout over Jose Alejandro Burgos in a homecoming fight at the Alamodome in January of 2020.
It's not often that 115-pounders headline major cards but Franco, an all-action boxer-puncher has broken the mold. He has headlined several cards and each of his last three was either co-main events or main events and aired on ESPN. The reason is quite simple, the San Antonian is never in a boring fight. Every time he steps in the ring, win, lose or draw, he gives the fans their money's worth.
Franco signed with Golden Boy as a teenager and ever since he has been providing pure gold for boxing hardcore. The first time most fans saw him was on the Canelo-Liam Smith undercard at AT&T stadium in September of 2016, in a fight that captured everyone's attention because of the electric uppercut that a then 20-year old Franco was landing with laser-like, precision from the outside that kept dropping and stunning his opponent Bryan Bazan. Despite being mild-mannered, and refusing to take part in trash talk Franco has done his talking in the ring and has done it exceptionally well. Should he successfully defend his title against Maloney next Saturday, the sky is the limit for Franco and mega fights can be made in the relatively near future. Legendary multi-divisional world champions Like "Chocolatiatio" Roman Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada, Kaz Ioka, and Donnie Nietes all compete in the same division, and given Franco's exciting style and name-value, fights with any of those names aren't just possible they make perfect sense for all parties involved.
Franco's younger brother Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez was our 2020 prospect of the year and sports a perfect 13-0 (9) record and looks to join big brother as a world champion in the very near future. Rodriguez a 108-pounder will look to become a world titleholder in that weight class as soon as 2022