Juan Francisco Estrada won’t be running it back with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez after all, as Salvador Rodriguez reports that “El Gallo” will instead follow in rival Roman Gonzalez’s footsteps and move to 118 pounds.
Estrada (44-4, 28 KO) ends a nearly decade-long stretch at super flyweight, which kicked off in earnest in 2016. He’d previously made six defenses of the WBO flyweight title, beating the likes of Brian Viloria, Milan Melindo, Giovani Segura, and “Tyson” Marquez along the way. Though he’s got quite a bit of mileage on him, he’s still a force to be reckoned with, making the prospect of a bantamweight run more intriguing than alarming.
As for Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KO), who stopped Estrada with a gnarly body shot in June, he’s got options. The way is clear for unification, and while unified champion Fernando Martinez is reportedly gearing up to rematch Kazuto Ioka at year’s end, WBO champion Kosei Tanaka is in action next month against Phumelele Cafu. If a Tanaka fight can’t be made in a reasonable time frame, there’s always the option to deal with interim titlist (and presumable mandatory challenger) Pedro Guevara.