By Jeff Aranow: WBC super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada has signed a promotional deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA. Estrada’s upcoming fight will be announced next week. It’s expected to take place on August 24.
The addition of the 29-year-old Estrada (39-3, 26 KOs) to the Matchroom stable means that the U.S boxing fans will soon be seeing him perform on DAZN.
Moving up in weight to bantamweight would be a good idea for Estrada to seek out bigger fights than the ones available to him at super flyweight.
Here are some big fights available to Estrada at 118:
- Nonito Donaire
- Naoya Inoue
- Luis Nery
- Zolani Tete
- Jason Moloney
- Emmanuel Rodriguez
Estrada hoping to unify super flyweight division
Estrada wants to unify the 115 pound weight class, and he’ll be soon targeting WBA champion Kal Yafai and WBO champion Aston Palicte. The only champion at super flyweight that might be out of touch for Estrada to face is IBF belt holder Jerwin Ancajas, who is signed with Top Rank Boxing, and fights on ESPN. Making a unification match between Estrada and Ancajas could prove difficult if not impossible at this point.
Hearn excited at signing Estrada
“I’m delighted to welcome pound-for-pound star Juan Estrada to the team,” said Estrada’s new promoter Hearn. “We have been working closely with Zanfer over the last year and this is an exciting addition to DAZN.”
Hearn has made it already clear that he plans on matching Estrada against fellow Matchroom fighter Kal Yafai in a unification fight, and he also wants to setup a trilogy fight against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Estrada and Rungvisai have fought each other twice with each fighter winning one fight a piece. Rungvisai won the first fight by a 12 round majority decision last year in February at The Forum in Inglewood, California. For U.S boxing fans, the only fighter at 115 that they’re interested in seeing Estrada fight is Rungvisai. He’s easily the most notable name in the super flyweight division now that Naoya Inoue has moved up to 118.
In the rematch last April, Estrada beat Rungvisai (47-5-1, 41 KOs) by a close 12 round unanimous decision. Both fights took place at The Forum in Inglewood, which gave Estrada the advantage with the crowd. Hearn isn’t likely going to put the third Estrada vs. Rungvisai fight in a neutral venue or in Rungvisai’s home country of Thailand. Rungvisai is arguably the better fighter of the two when he’s on his A-game, but Estrada fights well at home.
A third fight between two would be interesting for fans to watch. Apart from that, Estrada will need to move up to bantamweight to get the bigger names for him to fight. There are only so many times Estrada and Rungvisai can face each other before the boxing public grows bored with the match-up. Estrada and Rungvisai are big enough to fight at bantamweight against the top guys in that division.
Estrada to defend his WBC title next in Mexico
“I’m very excited to be fighting again on DAZN where I won the WBC title,” said Estrada. “I look forward to defending my title for Mexico and for all my fans and hopefully I can soon unify titles with the other champions of the division.”
Estrada is expected to make a simple voluntary defense of his WBC super flyweight title against one of the top 15 contenders. He’s not likely to face anyone notable in this defense. This fight is more about resting up, getting an easy one, and getting ready for a bigger match-up later on.