Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
Unified WBO and WBA Super World Flyweight champion, Juan Francisco Estrada, was on hand at the DC Armory to support his friend Rogelio “Porky” Medina in his attempt to win a world title against IBF Super Middleweight champion, James DeGale.
Estrada, who last fought against Hernan Marquez in September of 2015, spoke with Round By Round Boxing regarding a number of topics, including his future at Flyweight, a rematch with Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and when we might see him back in the ring.
“The plan is to fight in September, or maybe before,” said Estrada. “We’re talking with my team to see what comes up.”
Fight fans have been clamoring for a rematch with the pound-for-pound king, Gonzalez, but according to Estrada, we may have to wait beyond this year to see that matchup come to fruition.
“Honestly, I don’t think it will happen this year because what they’re saying is that he [Gonzalez] is going to move up to Super Flyweight.”
Estrada lost a hard-fought unanimous decision to Gonzalez in 2012, but since then, “El Gallo” has reeled off seven straight victories, including defeating former champion Brian Viloria.
Both fighters have enjoyed an increase in popularity since their first fight, and a rematch would certainly be a shoe in for an HBO main event.
“That’s the fight that everyone wants to see and it has to happen, but more than likely it will happen at Super Flyweight because he [Gonzalez] wants to move up to that weight,” said Estrada.
If not Gonzalez, one could certainly see an all-Mexican matchup between Estrada and Super Flyweight title holder Carlos Cuadras going down in the near future as well.
Cuadras recently defended his WBC title with a stoppage of Richie Mepranum on April 23 and promptly called out Estrada and Gonzalez.
Japanese power-punching sensation Naoya Inoue, who holds the WBO Super Flyweight title, is certainly a force to reckoned with but has little-to-no footprint in the United States, so he would likely need a few fights to build up a name on a network.
While there are surely enticing matchups at Super Flyweight, Estrada did state that he has a few more fights left at Flyweight.
“Well, we have two–maybe three–fights left at Flyweight,” said Estrada. “If a fight with him [Gonzalez] happens it’s fine, if not we’ll keep defending the titles against those who come. If we move to Super Flyweight obviously we would look for him, but if not there are many champions and other good fighters that we can make good fights with.”
Whether or not a Gonzalez rematch comes off, Estrada–who is ranked as the No. 4 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board–is confident of his future prospects.
“I think with or without him [Gonzalez] I am going to move forward and succeed,” said Estrada.
Who would you like to see Juan Francisco Estrada face next?
