Juan Francisco Estrada Vacates WBA Belt For Trilogy Fight With Roman Gonzalez
Boxing fans can take a breath as the much-anticipated trilogy between multi-divisional champions “El Gallo” Juan Francisco Estrada (42-3, 28KO), and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (51-3, 41KO) will take place following news of El Gallo vacating the WBA title.
This fight has been on the books to take place since Estrada took the WBA title off Gonzalez in 2021. This feat made El Gallo the unified super flyweight champion, which did not last long as the woes started to pile on. The WBC placed the Franchise tag on Estrada to prevent a mandatory defense for the trilogy to take place next.
In 2022, Estrada had to postpone their March showdown due to illness. That is when the WBA came knocking by ordering him to fight the Regular belt holder, Joshua Franco, in a belt consolidation bout.
Things got even more complicated when WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman dropped a bombshell claiming the organization had ordered Estrada to fight Gonzalez or risk losing the Franchise belt.
ESTRADA HAS MADE A DECISION
The Mexican fighter had to decide whether to fight Franco to keep the WBA title or take the more lucrative fight against Gonzalez to hold on to the Franchise belt. Well, he has decided to forgo the WBA’s request and will march forward with the trilogy.
According to IZQUIERDAZO, Estrada’s trainer, Alfredo Caballero, has revealed that they have already relinquished the WBA Super title.
“I don’t think they’ll fight with Franco. We already left the WBA belt. We are left with the WBC Franchise.”
Honestly, this decision should not come as a surprise, considering Estrada has been slowing down by only fighting once a year since 2019. The 32-year-old Mexican fighter has a lot of mileage on those legs, and many inside the boxing community believe this fight to be his last hooray.
With no more obstacles in the way, both teams can now focus solely on coming up with a fight date. Regardless of belts, fans will flock to the arena to see these two future Hall of Famers do battle maybe one last time.
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By: Garrisson Bland
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